

Christianity and Sensibility

By

Becca Blackwelder

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2009 by Becca Blackwelder
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or repro-duced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, includ-ing photocopying, recording, taping or by any information stor-age retrieval system without the written permission of the pub-lisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Eloquent Enraptures books may be ordered through local book: http://beccasreligiousbooks.blogspot.com
Dedication

I would like to dedicate this to my family and countless friends for their interesting discussions which have helped shaped the ideas of this book. I would also like to dedicate this book to the truth seekers of the world. Lastly and most importantly, I would like to thank my Creator for the special gifts given uniquely to me.
About the Author:

I am a graduate with a Bachelors degree in English with a focus on creative writing. I have traveled extensively in my life and have enjoyed learning about other cultures and beliefs and lives first hand. My educational background and experiences have in-fluenced both my writing styles and content. I hope you enjoy.

Other religious works by this author:

The Ancient Genesis

The Other Five Senses

**Part one** discusses the Messiah and the misunderstandings mod-ern day Christianity has about Mashiach because of her departure from Judaism around 60 AD and sealed in 300AD with Con-stantine, the first Roman Christian emperor.

This split from Judaism was created because of the flood of gen-tiles that poured into the faith, bringing with them their Roman, Greek and Pagan ideas, leaving behind the Jewish understanding which was not missed and often even hated. Along with the em-bracement of Greek, Roman and Pagan ideas, the church was shaped under an influence that would stringently change the face of modern day Christianity and envelope it with misunderstand-ings of scripture.

**Part two** discusses a variety of Christian topics that are debated because of historical, archeological, linguistic, and humanitarian reasons.

**Part three** discusses the prophecies of Revelation and their rele-vance to Messiah and today.

Words italicized are not my own words, but from the referenced site (internet or book) listed before the italicized words. Many friends who do not want their names listed in the book will only be referenced as my friend (with no name).
Table of Contents

The Messiah's Name:

The Messiah's Birth:

The Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Messiah

The Messiah's Genealogy:

The Father of Shealtiel

Jehoiachin's Curse

The Trinity:

Forgiveness and Atonement

The 7 Feasts of Israel (and Chanukah)

Part Two: Christian Dissension

The Roman Census

The Governor Quirinius

Women in the Church

Divorce:

Homosexuality

Noah's Flood

Information from David Rohl

Salvation

Law and Love

Part Three: The Prophecy of Revelation

The 8th Kingdom

The Beast

The Elders of Revelation and the Lamb

The Messiah's 2nd Coming

From Cohen
Messiah: The Arm of YHVH:

The gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke all begin painting a con-crete picture of Christ, with the genealogy of Christ, the story of John the Baptist the forerunner, and stories of Christ. John paints a different picture, a more abstract picture, a picture that is wo-ven with spiritual images.

John opens his gospel with 'In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, with-out him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the dark-ness, but the darkness has not understood (overcome) it.

The scripture indicates that the Christ, the Messiah, is the arm of YHVH. It is the arm of YHVH that has done the work of crea-tion, 'through him all things were made.' Even Isaiah the prophet says in Isaiah 53:1, and the New Testament echoes this idea in John 12:38 'Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?'

But what name does this messiah go by, when was he born and when was he crucified? These three questions are questions that many have asked and debated about since Christ came. This pa-per will address six questions with conclusions I feel reveal more information to understanding the full truth.
The Messiah's Name:

Most of us know that Jesus is far from the original name given to the Messiah by his mother, Mary. Since Mary was a Hebrew, she most likely gave a Jewish name to her son. She may have called him that name in Hebrew tongue or even in Greek tongue while he grew up. Greek was the most popular language at that time. It is important to know his actual name because the scripture tells us in Luke 2:21 that the name given to him was a name an angel had given him before he was conceived.

Many Jews were awaiting their coming Messiah and many moth-ers named their sons names relating to this idea. One common name found at that time period was Yehoshua, which meant 'He (YHVH) who is salvation' or 'He saves', _but it does not mean our salvation as some misunderstand. The name is not Yahshua._

It is this name that most scholars agree is the name given to the son of Miriam. Yehoshua (ye-ah-sh-oo-o) translated into the English fits more the form of Joshua. However, the Hebrew word Yehoshua was shortened to Yeshua, which then translated into Greek was Yesous (ee-ah-s-oo-s) meaning healer. From the Greek, it went into Latin as Yesus. The name then went into Old English as Jesus, but the J was pronounced softly in Old English, more like a Y. The old English became modern English where we pronounce the J hard. Now we have the name Jesus with a hard J pronunciation.

However taking the name Jesus now and translating it back into the Greek gives us a troubling problem. The name no longer is translated as healer, but _GE_ means earth and _SUS_ means swine and thus rendering the meaning earth swine. Iesus into the He-brew is translated as _IES_ into man and _SUS_ into horse and thus rendering man horse as its meaning. Both are troubling indeed.

We are all accustomed to calling our Messiah Jesus with a hard J sound. But we should be aware that that is not the name given to him by his mother or by the angel from YHVH. We should also be aware that that name does not hold any significant transla-tional or definite meaning and in fact holds a derogatory mean-ing. However, we also should consider it is the person or object that brings meaning to a name, not the name that brings meaning to the person or object.
The Messiah's Birth:

The gospel of Luke gives us one of the more comprehensive de-tails surrounding the date births of the Messiah. Many say this date is impossible, but upon reading the information below, you will see there are enough details left behind to know.

How does Luke do this? He provides us with information about John the Baptist. We learn from Luke 1:23 that, upon Elizabeth's husbands return from his duty, she becomes pregnant. How does that help? John's father, Zacharias, was a priest serving in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah (Luke1:5). It was during this time of temple service that Zacharias learned that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child (Luke 1:8-13). After he completed his service and traveled home, Elizabeth conceived (verses 23-24).

This order of priests ministered in the Temple the eighth week of the Hebrew year according to the ordinance of 1 Chronicles 24:10 (and according to the Talmud). The eighth week trans-verses the last week of the second Hebrew month of Iyar and the first week of the third Hebrew month of Sivan, which culminates at Shavuot (Pentecost). This is the anchor point for discovering the exact time of the Messiah's birth. The angel promised Zacha-r'yah that his prayer had been answered, and when he went home to his wife Elisheva (Elizabeth) she conceived, it seems almost immediately. This puts the conception of Yochanan (John the Baptist) very near the time of Shavuot, the Feast of Pentecost, in the second week of the month of Sivan, the third Hebrew month. Historical calculations indicate this course of service cor-responded to June 13-19 in that year (The Companion Bible, 1974, Appendix 179, p. 200).

How does that help us with the Messiah's birth date? It helps because we know from Luke 1:36 that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when she was visited by Miriam and, from Luke 1:26, that Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel to tell her about her own pregnancy in this sixth month. We learn in Luke 1:39 that when Mary visited Elizabeth, the baby in her womb, John the Baptist, leapt at the sound of Mary's voice. Elizabeth says, 'Blessed are you among women and the child you will bear.'

What month did all this happen in according to Luke? The end of June plus six months gives us the end of December as the conception time of the Messiah. If we add nine months to De-cember, we get the month of September as the due date for the Messiah.

**Christ is shown celebrating Chanukah in John 10:22, 23**. It is at this celebration that He declares "I and My Father are One" [John 10:30], which testifies to His Divine origin in His concep-tion. It also reinforces Chanukah as the time of His conception.

Haggai 2:18-19 — Do consider from this day onward, **from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month** (on the Hebrew calen-dar, it is 24 Kislev, sometimes this is the 24th of December), from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.

So the Messiah was conceived in December and now we have a day, the 24th of December.

Historically, then, it is more accurate to celebrate Messiah enter-ing the world through conception at Chanukah rather than to cel-ebrate His birth at Christmas.

What else supports this month:

We know that shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks at the time of the Christ's birth (Luke2:7-8). Shepherds were not in the fields during the winter months of Judea as in December, when it is rainy and cold. The months likely for this would have been summer/fall months. These months would have been May-July and August-October

Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem to register in a **Roman cen-sus** (Luke 2:1-4). Such censuses were not taken in winter, when temperatures often dropped below freezing and roads were in poor conditions. But this is not the only reason they would have gone to Bethlehem. They went also to fulfill the Feast of Taber-nacles in September.

Nisan, when **John the Baptist was born** , is the first month of the Hebrew year. As we have shown, Mara conceived six months after Elisheva (Elizabeth) conceived, which means the Messiah's birth would have to come six months after John's birth, during the seventh Hebrew month of Tishri. Since we know that John was born at Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread (March), which is nine months from his conception time at the end of June, we learn the time of Messiah's birth by counting six Hebrew months from Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on Nisan 15 and six months later, Tabernacles begins on Tishri 15. There-fore, Messiah could have been born on the first day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).

The eighth day, the Messiah was circumcised according to the scriptural command [Luke 2:21]. For a male, this is what accom-plishes a full Hebrew birth. The Feast of Tabernacles is for exact-ly eight days. The first and last days are both holy Sabbaths. The Messiah, if born on the first day, a holy Sabbath, was then cir-cumcised on the eighth day, a holy Sabbath. YHVH then in-tended this entire Feast of Tabernacles to be set aside in order to accomplish and celebrate the Messiah's birth into the world.

However, another interesting scripture comes to mind which is "The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam be-came a life-giving spirit." In 1 Corinthians 15:22, it states, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ (the Messiah) all shall be made alive." The Messiah is the second Adam. Rabbis have long taught that Adam's birth date was on 1 Tishri. It is possible Christ then returning on Rosh Hashanah would be the 'birth' of the Messiah into the 'new' world. This is known as Rosh Hashanah, or the birthday of the soul of man.

In Summary:

**The month** can be said with certainty is the month of Tishri, given the story of Elizabeth and Mary in the Gospel account of Luke, in addition to the scripture Haggai 2:18-19 — Do consider from this day onward, **from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month** ....and given that we know it was a summer/fall month.

**The day: Tishri 15 is supported well**. "The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." In 1 Corinthians 15:22, it states, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ (the Messiah) all shall be made alive." This scripture seems to support Tishri 1; however this could be because this day is the day of the Messiah's return, the Feast of Trumpets.

But in **John 1:14** , the word became flesh and made his dwelling (tabernacle) among us, seems to support the Feast of Tabernacles as the time period.

Scripture tells us in Matthew 2:13 that the Messiah was protect-ed by his mother Mary and father Joseph from King Herod by traveling to Egypt to hide **until King Herod died**. It says that King Herod ordered that the **boys of two years old** and younger be killed from the accordance of time he got from the magi. Up-on the Magi's return to their home country, which would have taken months, not returning to King Herod, he realizes they have not helped him and so King Herod searches for this baby, which could have taken months, King Herod finally decides to just have all the babies killed under two to make it easier for him to eliminate this newborn king.

This tells us that the **Messiah was no older than two years of age when King Herod has the babies killed** and, since baby Christ stays in Egypt until this threat is over, until King Herod dies, we can guess that baby Christ is two years or younger while in Egypt, waiting for this to end. We can guess this because, if King Herod lived longer after this killing of the babies, he would have had another threat posed for the baby Christ and it would have been recorded. But the story ends with King Herod's kill-ing and then his subsequent death. If the Messiah's birth is at 7 BC, September given the information of King Herod's death in early 4 BC, this means the Messiah would have been about 2 years old; two years or younger at the time of King Herod's death, fitting rightly into the above timeframe.

We know that Josephus the Historian has Herod's death set on a day with a lunar eclipse and before a Passover (Chapter VIII of book XVII) Antiquities of the Jews, which after looking at NASA charts and Jewish calendars, one can see that those events fall in 5BC, 4BC, 1BC. However we also know from Jo-sephus that Herod lived 37 years after being declared King by the Romans (which was in 40AD). (Antiquities, above ref.) Therefore, the date is most likely 4BC. Archelaus also began showing up on coins in 4BC, which places Herod's death and his subsequent rise to the throne at that time in 4BC. This is why historians place his death at this time. Below, we can evaluate Christ's birth, which occurs before Herod's death according to Scriptures.

<http://www.abdicate.net/dates.aspx> (The Sheppard's Page: A messianic site).

The italicized information is from the site, not me.

15 Tishri 3755 (8 October 7 BC - Julian). _This year suits Christ's birth best, because it contains an Adar II Jewish New Year._

_If Mary was impregnated the Feast of Dedication (24 Kislev - 2 Tevet), for Jesus to be born on 15th of Tishrei, Jesus would have had a gestation period of 308 days or 44 weeks or 11 months. This is very possible, since there was no way to induce labor back then. Now those of you who have kids (especially women) won't believe that this is possible today, since the normal gestation peri-od is between 266 and 280 days. My own father-in-law was a "donkey baby". The gestation of a donkey is between 10 1/2 months and 14 months. He was born after 11 months (exactly 44 weeks) in the womb, hence the nickname. Obviously, this trip of Mary on a donkey for 80 miles induced labor. Nothing is an acci-dent for God and I believe this took place just so Jesus could be born on the 15th of Tishrei, the Feast of Tabernacles. The beauty of this is that, on the 8th day from the birth of Jesus, He would have been circumcised. This day is called the Simhat Torah, meaning literally "the rejoicing of the Torah." It is on this day that the rabbis in the synagogues take the Torah scrolls out of their places and dance with them as though the Torah had come to life - as if the Word of God came alive! Oh, how close they come to the truth! (_ _II Timothy 3:7_ _) This would also help under-stand that, even though the census was called, why there would still be no room in the inn — all the mandatory visitors to Jerusa-lem for Sukkot!_

_Josephus was a historian just after the time of Christ (37 AD to c. 100 AD). He gives detailed accounts of events from Creation to his time. We all know of the story of King Herod, in his immense insecurity, tried to kill Jesus. So first, King Herod had to have died after Jesus was born. Josephus says that Herod died shortly after a lunar eclipse (that fell on a fast day) but before the Passo-ver (14 Nisan at sundown), Book XVII, Chap. 6, para. 4 & 5 and Chap. 9, para. 3. I turned to_ NASA _to get a list of all lunar eclip-ses during this timeframe. Of course, they gave me all the infor-mation I needed except if, in this list, the eclipses would be visible from Jerusalem. They did provide a way to find out through a complicated mathematical process, so I had to write another pro-gram to determine which eclipses would be visible from Jerusa-lem. Starting with a date of Herod's assumed death of 4 BC, and the year type (leap year) requiring an Adar II, I found one eclipse, 14 Adar II 3757 (13 March 4 BC). Why this one? Well, because of the fast day that Josephus mentioned. The ONLY eclipse that fell the night of a fast day was the Fast of Esther, 13 Adar II 3757 (12 March 4 BC). Dates change at sundown in a Jewish calendar instead of at midnight. From this date to 1 Nisan 3757 (29 March 4 BC), Herod had to have died. Jesus would have been about three and-a-half years old at the time of Herod's death._

_Clue_ _: Why 15 Tishrei? Because of the date of Jesus' death and all the types in Scripture, I believed it had to be the Feast of Taber-nacles. Here's why. John mentions in 1:14 of Jesus "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us..." The word "dwelt" comes from the Greek work skenoo which means to tent or en-camp, to reside as God did in the Tabernacle. Well, this set off a little flag for me because in the Old Testament, Zechariah talks about this day. In Zechariah 14:16 "And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Je-rusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." The Feast of Tabernacles was just a feast to remind Israel of their wanderings and was made to "dwell" in booths (tents). Why would all nations come to worship the King [of Kings] on that day? Well, my wife is from Spain and Spain is a monarchal socie-ty. They celebrate the birthday of their king, as do other monar-chial nations. Assumption: if Jesus' birthday is 15 Tishrei [the Feast of Tabernacle], that would help the understanding of this verse. Sadly enough, this feast is also the time when Israel began to reject their Messiah,_ _Luke 4:24._

The Qumran calendar:

 http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2003/qumran.html

 http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibit/Library/calend.html

 http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibit/Library/library.html

Before proceeding to date the Qumran Calendar, we need to un-derstand what we shall call the Priest Cycle. Officiating duties at the Temple of Solomon were divided among 24 families who de-scended from Aaron, the brother of Moses (1 Chron. 24:1-18). These family divisions are usually translated "courses" in the Bi-ble (1 Chron. 23:26, Luke 1:5). A priest from each family presid-ed at the temple for one week, beginning about midday every Sat-urday.[6] Their names and the order in which they presided are given in Table 2. Thus, it took 24 weeks to complete the entire cy-cle. If this calendrical cycle could be correlated to a known date, and if it were known to be continuous, then the cycle could poten-tially be used to establish other historical dates. For example, when the angel Gabriel appeared to the priest Zacharias in the temple, he was on duty representing the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5-20).

This cycle is very interesting because, though there is not much information given on when this calendar begins, we can deduce from knowing that the Hebrew calendar begins on Nissan (March/April) the month of the Passover, that the first family takes place at this start of the first month as well. This could be about mid April for the first family, then we are taken to May with Harim, then we are taken to June with Hakkoz, and Abijah then is the family to take the mid June time. This timeline also supports the evidence we get from the Bible for Abijah taking the mid June time, 1 Chronicles 24:10 (and according to the Talmud). This gives us more support from a different source for the Feast of Tabernacles birth of our Messiah, Yehoshua.

Interestingly the Catholic Church tries to use this same calendar to support their erroneous idea that the Messiah was born on Christmas. They do this by suggesting that the calendar begins in August, yielding Abijah in the last week of September. This places John the Baptist in the last of March. This places Christ's birth nine months later in the last of December. **The Vatican ac-tually does this with a straight face.** It actually suggests that the Biblical reference we have for Abijah is wrong, because of the erroneous start month they use for the Qumran calendars. Forget-ting the Biblical reference for the Abijah line, looking just at the Qumran calendars, we can see plainly that beginning the calendar in the month of Aug/Sept is wrong because the Hebrew calendar did NOT begin in Aug/Sept. The Hebrew calendar ALWAYS begins in Nissan (March/April).

From Johanan Rakkav

2007-01-28: Christmas and the Qumran calendar

For the moment, I'm just going to blurb a new twist on justifying December 25th as the day of Jesus Christ's birth. When I'm done with my research in this area, I'll update the page. The twist is based on Dead Sea Scrolls such as the fragment illustrated above — 4Q325 (4QCalendrical Doc D) to be exact, which was written at the end of the first century.

In essence, there's a Catholic professor out there who claims (in an article published in the Vatican's official English-language newspaper) that the calendar docu-mented by the Dead Sea Scrolls somehow supports De-cember 25th as the day of Jesus' birth. The calendar of the Qumran Community had a very particular way of deter-mining when the various priestly courses fell (see 1 Chronicles 24:1-31). Which courses fell when is important in determining when John the Baptist was conceived, and therefore when Jesus Christ was conceived (see Luke 1:1-56, especially verses 8-23).

What this professor and the website that cites him — through ignorance or something worse — fails to point out is that the Qumran calendar was a symmet-rical, 364-day solar calendar set up in specific opposi-tion to the lunar solar calendar then in use in Jerusa-lem (and as implied by the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, incidentally). The dates for festivals, holy days and priestly courses would not have coincided in the two calendars, and that was quite intentional on the part of the Community. The last thing Luke would've used to date events in his Gospel was the Qumran calendar.
The Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Messiah

In most churches, the crucifixion of Christ takes place on 'Good Friday' and Christ is resurrected on that following Sunday.

However there are a couple problems with that idea. The first problem is that Christ said himself in Matthew 16:4, a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given to it, except the sign of Jonah and, in Matthew 12:40, for as Jo-nah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Friday to Sunday is not three days and three nights, it is two nights and one day.

The second problem is that Good Friday was established on the misunderstanding of the Gospel scriptures of the Preparation Day. The early church followers, as well as many modern day followers, do not realize that the Jewish faith has several Sabbath days. These days are referred to as Holy days or, in modern Mes-sianic Jewish teaching, as High Sabbaths.

These Special Sabbath days (The 7 Feasts of Israel) are as fol-lows: PUPTATL: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, Last Great Day of the Feast. There are in fact 7 listed in the Old Testament to be remembered as special Sabbaths (Feasts) in addition to the weekly Sabbath. In addition, there is also Chanukah which falls in December usu-ally. This is not mandated as one of the seven, but is often re-membered by the Israeli people and has significant Messianic relation as well.

Matthew 27:62

The next day, the one after the Preparation Day...

Matthew 28:1

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week.

Matthew is describing two different days here. One is the day after the Preparation Day that is the first day of unleavened bread. The day of preparation is also the Passover day, which is also sometimes called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But offi-cially the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins the day after Passo-ver/Preparation Day and lasts for 7 days. The first and last days are considered Holy Days. So, Passover would have been on the 14th of Nisan and the first day of Unleavened Bread would be on the 15th of Nisan. This Feast of Unleavened Bread is also called a High/Holy Sabbath or Special Sabbath by the Gospel of John 19:31.

The other is in the next paragraph as the day (Sunday) after the Sabbath (Saturday). We know Sunday is the first day of the week after the Friday evening to Saturday evening Sabbath. The day before would have been Thursday evening to Friday evening or the first day of Unleavened Bread Sabbath. The day before that, then, would have been Wednesday evening to Thursday evening or Preparation day or Passover.

Mark 15:42

It was Preparation Day (that is the day before the Sabbath).

This Sabbath was a high Sabbath, because it was the first day of Unleavened Bread.

Luke 23:54

It was preparation Day and the Sabbath was about to begin.

(It was Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread was about to begin)

John 19:31

Now it was the Day of Preparation and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.

That is that of the Passover, the Day of Preparation for the com-ing Feast of Unleavened Bread, when His body was placed in the tomb, the burial of the Messiah was on Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Special Sabbath, Unleavened Bread).

The early church followers believed this Sabbath to be in refer-ence to the weekly Jewish Sabbath held on Saturday evening.

But the first day of Unleavened Bread was considered a (spe-cial) High Sabbath day and follows the Passover. Preparation Day (Passover) involves taking all the yeast out of the house and preparing a yeast-free meal, and thus the Passover was called Preparation Day, because many preparations were to be made for this special day (the first day of Unleavened Bread).

Further we have the gospel of Mark 14:1 tell us directly, 'Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only TWO days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Christ Yehoshua and kill him.'

This tells us that the week that Christ was crucified, the Passo-ver/Preparation day and Unleavened Bread were also in that week.

From Mark's Gospel, we can see chapter 14 is two days before the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is Monday.

Verse 12 then is now Tuesday morning, preparing for the Passo-ver and Feast of Unleavened Bread. Why does Mark say: On the first day of unleavened bread when the disciples are preparing for the feast? The first day of Unleavened Bread is not a prepa-ration day, it is a feasting day. We all know that preparations took place BEFORE the official first day of Unleavened Bread. Typically, we call that day Preparation Day which falls on Pass-over day, which is always the day before the first day of Un-leavened Bread. However there is more to this, because it is also customary to clear the house out the day before Passover as well, that is on the thirteenth. So we can see that this day though said, on the first of Unleavened Bread is actually the 13th, not to be confused with the 15th, the official day of feasting, the first day of Unleavened Bread. Below is written from a Messianic Jewish friend of mine:

As it is today, it was customary in those days to start clearing out the last of the chametz from out of one's home on the night of the thirteenth and have it all completely gone by noon of the next day [14th]. Accordingly, this day became known as the first day of motzot [U.B.], even though it really isn't. It is called today B'dikat chametz. We can easily prove this: Matthew 26:17-20 [17] Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread [literally "the first of the unleavened bread"] the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passo-ver? This verse alone should ring a bell, as it is here we see a biblical-chronological error, even the most nominal Jew will be able to point out. The only other option, along with the fact that we know that Matthew was definitely a scribe, is that this is de-scribing B'dikat Chametz, which I believe it certainly is.

Later in verse 37, we see Christ finds them sleeping, because it is later in the day of Tuesday after much preparations. Christ is arrested Tuesday evening and spends the night in Roman Prison.

We see Chapter 15 is 'Very early in the morning.' That is Wednesday morning, not yet Passover, the crucifixion takes place then Wednesday at the 3rd hour in the day, that is 9AM, Trying to beat the Feast time. And, according to verse 25 and verse 33, it tells us that Wednesday afternoon at the 6th hour is when darkness came over the land and at the 9th hour Christ gave up the spirit. This darkness came about midday or 12:00 noon. Christ gave up his spirit and was buried around 3PM. This would be the afternoon of Wednesday, which would be three hours be-fore the official Passover, Preparation Day (Wednesday evening to Thursday evening).

Note: When the Bible says the 3rd hour, it means 3 hours after the 6AM mark which is the beginning of a new day. Thus it means 9AM and so forth.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread would take place the next day, that Thursday evening to Friday evening.

The weekly Sabbath would take place on that Friday even-ing-Saturday evening

The Messiah was crucified on Wednesday (Passover) at 9AM and gave up his spirit at 3PM. He slept in the grave through **Passover, Unleavened Bread** , and **weekly Sabbath**. He rose on Saturday evening **the Feast of First Fruits** , after weekly Sab-bath finished, and waited in the tomb for Mary Magdalene to arrive early Sunday morning. This Sunday morning was the morning of the **Feast of First Fruits** which is always the **first Saturday evening to Sunday evening after Passover**.

We have a year for the Messiah's birth. It is 7 BC. We also know from scripture that the Messiah had 3 Passovers, the last one be-ing the day of his crucifixion. Passover is yearly and the Messiah began his ministry when he was about 30 years old (Luke 3:23), probably in his late 29th year of age.

From September of 7BC to 27AD is when the Messiah Ye-hoshua (Yeshua) lived on this earth and sacrificed his life as a Guilt Offering as the Prophet Isaiah tells.

<http://www.abdicate.net/dates.aspx>

_Jesus died before reaching His 33rd birthday. The Bible only re-veals that Jesus celebrated three Passovers after this point, and on that last one, was murdered. Here's a small time table_ :

15 Tishrei 3755 + 30 years = 3785

Birthday: 15 Tishrei 3785 Jesus was 30

Passover: 14 Nisan 3785 Jesus was 30 - _John 2:23_

Birthday: 15 Tishrei 3786 Jesus was 31

Passover: 14 Nisan 3786 Jesus was 31 - _John 6:4_

Birthday: 15 Tishrei 3787 Jesus was 32

14 Nisan 3787 (9 April 27 AD - Julian), Jesus Died at the age of 32 and 5 month 28 days. _John 11:55_

We know that the first day of Unleavened Bread only falls on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in the Jewish calendar. That means that the Passover day had to have been on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday.

Jesus' last Passover was actually on the 13th of Nisan 3787 (8 April 27 AD), a Tuesday, just after sunset, making it the 14th. Very late that night, they came for Jesus and held a mock trial and had him sent to Pilate for judgment. As seen in John 19:14 that was the Day of Preparation. The series of events are that Je-sus had His last Passover on the evening of the 13th of Nisan, (making it the 14th after sunset). This is furthered because, when they took Jesus, it was already the 14th of Nisan. Remember, days change at sundown. John 18:28 says they took Jesus to the hall of judgment but they did not go in because they were clean and could partake of the Passover, Numbers 9:7-14.

It took 29 days to become clean once one was made unclean, according to Numbers, but that little truth was twisted by the Pharisees into some ritual that bore no resemblance to the truth. So this also shows that only Jesus and His disciples had already celebrated Passover. Since Jesus was presented at 6 am, and re-jected by the Jews, He was led away to be crucified. At 9 am He was put on the cross, Mark 15:25. At noon, all darkness fell on the whole land until around 3 pm when Jesus gave up the ghost. Now, since the 14th of Nisan is Passover and the 15th is a Sabbath, the guards went along to break the legs of those crucified to ex-pedite their death because the Sabbath was coming.

Here is a breakdown:

Here's another look - graphical layout **Thursday 8 Nisan** \- Jesus is anointed by Mary for His death, though she may not have known that, John 12:3 **Saturday 10 Nisan** \- Jesus has separated Himself from the people, Exodus 12:3, John 12:36 **Tuesday 13 Nisan** \- Jesus tells them to prepare the Passover meal. Their lamb killed before sunset on the 13th, and after sunset has the Passo-ver with His disciples - deduced by the events on the 14th, the day of preparation for the Passover [of which Jesus had already partaken.] **Wednesday 14 Nisan** \- Jesus is tried early in the morning before dawn, brought before the people by Pilate at 6 am - Day of Preparation for the evening's Passover. Jesus is cru-cified at 9 am, noon the sun is blackened until when Jesus gives up the ghost around 3 pm and is put into the tomb hastily be-cause the sun is going to set within the next couple hours and that starts the Sabbath. The Lamb of God had been sacrificed just like all the lambs that very day for that night's Passover! **Thursday 15 Nisan** \- Feast of Unleavened Bread - bread with-out yeast [life] - because the Bread of Life had died!!! - High Sabbath, also the day the Pharisees asked to have the tomb sealed because they knew of the promise of His resurrection, but thought His disciples would steal the body, Matthew 27:62. **Friday 16 Nisan** \- Feast of Harvest - Numbers 28:26, Leviticus 23:10-12 - then a few hours to prepare for the Sabbath that starts at sunset. **Saturday 17 Nisan** \- Typical Weekly Sabbath - from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown using Western dating sys-tem. **Sunday 18 Nisan** \- the day Jesus is raised from the dead any time after sundown at the end of the Sabbath on - Western dating system - Saturday night. Three days and three nights, Matthew 12:40, in the tomb. Mary and the others go to the tomb on the first day of the week, Sunday, and realize that Jesus is risen, Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1 This is by far the hardest to understand because the Feasts and Sabbaths start after sundown, and are completed the next sundown, but during the night, the date changes.

Since Jesus was crucified on Wednesday (14 Nisan - day of preparation; Luke 23:54 & John 19:42) about 3 pm ( **Matthew 27:46** \- Roman time which started at 6 am) (2 1/2 to 3 hours be-fore sunset - remember they were trying to bury them so they all could partake in the Passover and the beginning of the "High" Sabbath - 15 Nisan) and now it was Sunday ( **Matthew 24:1** & **Luke 24:13** ) just before sunset ( **Matthew 2:11** ). Not counting the 3 hours of Wednesday, at 6 pm it changed to Thursday and you have the start of day 1, at 6pm Friday, the start of day 2 and 6 pm Saturday the start of day 3. Since their conversation was be-fore sunset Sunday, it was still "third day since these things were done." Now you say, "what about the sign of 3 days and 3 nights ( **Matthew 12:40** )?" Thursday night, Thursday day, Friday night, Friday day, Saturday night and Saturday day. The hard part to remember is that the "day" changes at night, sunset. This also helps us to understand how the women could go and buy spices "after the Sabbath" (Mark 16:1) and yet go before sunrise Sunday to the grave to anoint Him (Mark 16:2). The time from 6pm to - who knows - some shops may have opened to let those folks who needed stuff buy before going to bed. The times for sunrise and sunset for April 10th is 5:17 am and 6:04 pm. So that Jesus died Wednesday only to have the day change in 3 hours to me seems of no importance in the "day/night" count.

**The Messiah was in the heart of the earth from Wednesday evening till Saturday evening: a triple Sabbath, a triple day of resting, and that is exactly what he did!** He rose and probably sat praying to God waiting for daybreak and the arrival of Mary Magdalene. Mary would have needed to wait until after Sab-bath, just at the evening of Saturday, or the morning of Sunday, before buying the anointments that scripture says she bought for Christ and then went to see him in his tomb alive.

<http://www.abdicate.net/dates.aspx>

_Daniel 9:25-26_ , " _Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusa-lem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three-score and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."_ Ezra is the source to finding this date.

In Daniel's 70 weeks of 7 years (490 years), the Messiah would die 69 weeks of 7 years or 483 years later, that is clearly in scrip-ture, as you can see. The understanding of when this series of years starts is _"... going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem..."_ When did this occur? Well, let's start with when the first Jews from Babylon returned to Israel to " **re-build the temple**."

Cyrus gave a decree for the Jews to return to Jerusalem to re-build their temple. Josephus says that Cyrus read the book of Isaiah and saw that he was mentioned as the chosen one to re-build God's house, Isaiah 44:28. Cyrus was so moved that he made the decree in 538 B.C. [year 3223 in the Jewish calendar], which was his first year of reign as King of Babylon, Ezra 1:1. He was already King of Persia from 559 B.C. Ezra and Nehemi-ah counted the people, which came to 42,360 Jews, 7337 serv-ants, and 245 singers, for a total of 49,942 souls who left Baby-lon, Ezra 2:64, Nehemiah 7:66-67. Very few considering the number that went into captivity. So, with the decree, they went back to Jerusalem to start building the House of God, Ezra 1:3 \- not the city, so this decree isn't the one from Daniel.

The Jews were hindered by the adversaries of Benjamin and Ju-dah all the way until the second year of the reign of Darius I, 519 B.C. At this time, all work ceased, Ezra 4:24. By the leader-ship of Haggai and Zechariah, the work resumed and the rulers of the area wrote letters to King Darius to make them stop and to verify their claim to build the House of God by Cyrus' decree. Well, it was found to be true and Darius made a decree not to hinder the work, Ezra 6:1-12 \- Ezra 6:1-12. Again for the House of God alone, so this too isn't the decree of Daniel's prophecy. Finally, the temple was completed in the sixth year of Darius (515 B.C. [3246]) on the third day of the twelfth month, and in the following month they kept the Passover. Ezra 6:15, Ezra 6:19. King Artaxerxes, in the seventh year of his reign (457 B.C.), authorized Ezra the priest and scribe, and all who wished to join him, to go to Jerusalem.

It was Ezra's desire to instruct the Jews in the laws of God. Ar-taxerxes granted him large amounts of silver and gold to furnish the temple, and gave instruction that his treasurers on that side of the river should provide whatever was needed to beautify the Lord's house. In the decree, Artaxerxes commanded Ezra to _"set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedi-ly upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment."_ Ezra 7:25-26. Ezra left on 1 Nisan 3304 (26 March 457 B.C.) to go to Jerusalem. This is the decree of Daniel's prophecy. Why? Because the next decree for Nehemiah is to rebuild Jerusalem, but Ezra was told to set up the city and the government. The letter of Ezra's decree was not preserved, but we can see the rulers of the area com-plained again and the work was stopped, Ezra 4:17-22.

Nehemiah's story begins in the 20th year of Artaxerxes' reign. Nehemiah was praying that the Lord would give Nehemiah favor in the King's eyes so that Jerusalem would be restored. God granted his desire and Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah leave to go and build Jerusalem. Although the text wording would make this decree the decree of Daniel, this one really was just a reaffirma-tion of the one given to Ezra, which we do not have the wording to, but we know it was to not only beautify the Temple, but to build the city. This was clearly understood to be an authorization for the full reestablishment of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation; for shortly after this, the enemies of the Jews wrote to the king complaining that "the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations" Ezra 4:12. That the walls had been completely set up was obvi-ously an exaggeration, as verse 13 reveals. Yet this incident shows that, for the first time, there was actual work being done to rebuild the city. This had not been the case under the previous decrees.

_King's years_. Something that must be understood in understand-ing a statement like "in the seventh year of his reign" is that to the Jews, the first year of a king's rule isn't the completion of 12 months, but in the completion of the first calendar year. That is, if a king took office in April, the completion of his first year wouldn't be until 20 months later. This is why, if you decide, and you should, to verify my dates with encyclopedias and history books, you'll find that some say Artaxerxes' reign started in 465 B.C. and others will say 464 B.C. — it depends on how the "year" was counted. So to us, the first year of Artaxerxes' reign is both 465 B.C. AND 464 B.C. as his accession year. That means that some books are counting from the calendar year (from April to April in our example, 12 months) and others count as the Jews and Babylonian's did (from April to the 2nd Decem-ber - 20 months). From our decree time of 1 Nisan 3304 + 483 years = 3787, exactly 483 years, 13 days later, Jesus died on the cross for His people. Daniel 9:26, "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.

The Qumran calendar:

 http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2003/qumran.html

 http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibit/Library/calend.html

 http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibit/Library/library.html

The Dead Sea Scrolls have provided a wealth of information about religious practices during the first century or so BC in the community at Qumran near the Dead Sea. A surprisingly large portion of the scrolls deals with keeping time, which was essen-tial for knowing exactly when the sacred feasts prescribed in the Law of Moses should be celebrated. The scrolls make it clear that the group at Qumran felt that the other Jewish sects were mis-taken in the calendar they were using, which was based on the phases of the moon. This was probably one of several reasons that caused them to withdraw from Jerusalem and to celebrate their own feasts at the times they felt were proper according to what has become known as the Qumran calendar.

The calendar had 364 days each year, beginning on a Wednesday every spring. It had four quarters of exactly 13 weeks each, so that every quarter-year began on a Wednesday. Each quarter had three months, the first two having 30 days, and the third having 31 days. The months were numbered from 1 to 12, beginning in the spring. Thus, it had a feature desired by many modern busi-nessmen: it was so tightly tied to the week that every day oc-curred on the same day of the week every year. In particular, their sacred feast days always occurred on the fixed days listed in Table 1.[4]

It is very interesting that on this calendar, we also get the date of Wednesday for Nisan 15 the Passover. Many scholars believe the location of Qumran to have been home to a Jewish sect, perhaps the Essenes. Scholars now suggest that there may have been a connection, that Jesus himself may have come from an Essene background but had abandoned it. Later, however, he may have celebrated the Passover according to the Essene calendar. Bargil Pixner has put forward the idea that Martha, Mary and Lazarus, who lived at Bethany, were Essene. The Essenes, or the asylum, are supporters of the traditional priestly family of the Zadokites against the Hasmonean priest/kings which we know Herod came from and was considered a false priestly line because the Levites are the true line. Under the leadership of the "Teacher of Right-eousness," the Essenes took themselves off to the desert, away from the "wicked priest" to prepare a way for the Lord.

The community scroll tells us that they modeled their organiza-tion on the house of "Aaron and Israel" (Aaron and Israel repre-sent the priests and the people). The community was presided over by a guardian instructor. The head priest (a Levite) fulfilled all the priestly duties, pronounced blessings over meals and pre-sided over assemblies, and he was the judge in all moral matters. A group of twelve made important decisions. The community at Qumran was celibate, but they also had a second order for mar-ried people. These members lived scattered throughout the coun-try and needed different rules. (Bones of women and children were found in the cemetery not far from the main building at Qumran).

This is one of the reasons the temple King Herod built was not considered the third temple when it was finished. He suffered much shame and anger towards the Jews, because he was from the line of Hasmonean, not the Levites. This Wednesday placing supports our Hebrew understanding of the text, but also ques-tions the Catholic idea that Passover was on Friday, 'Good Fri-day.'

The Catholic Church wants to use this Qumran calendar to sup-port their erroneous idea that Christmas is Christ's birth date and yet, when it comes to this part of the calendar that shows us plainly the true day of Passover, they are silent.

Another important point:

" _...to display itself from the East, and shine in the centre of the sky, at the base of the vault, from evening to morning, on the 4th (Wednesday) of the week of the sons of Gamul, in the first month of the first year."[_ _]_

To clarify, here is our interpretation of that important description:

" _(the sun) ... rises due east, and shines at the celestial equator, on the horizon at dawn (as night becomes morning) on Wednesday, 4 Gamul, in the first month of the first year."_

This is very interesting, because Christ is our sun, just as the sun was 'asah' in the fourth day, Christ our Messiah is given to us in the fourth millennium. This passage seems to indicate it is this sun that rises in the East on WEDNESDAY that signifies this new birth! That is a significant day indeed.
The Messiah's Genealogy:

Some argue that the Messiah has conflicting genealogies when looking at Matthew and Luke's genealogical accounts, however a little understanding can go a long way.

The Messiah was prophesied to be from a line of **kings** as well as contain **humility** and to be a **lion** as well as a **lamb**. The kings are descendants of King David through King Solomon. The Lion is the tribe of Judah.

The **account of Matthew** gives us the genealogy of Yehoshua through **his father, Joshua**. That is the **kingship line** and it also shows us his ancestors were from the **tribe of Judah** , the lion.

The **account of Luke** gives us the genealogy of Yehoshua through **his mother, Mary**. That is the human lineage, without kingship, a **line of humility** and also shows us his ties with the tribe of Judah.

When we take a closer look at Matthew's account, we will notice Matthew divides the descendants into **3 groups of fourteen**. He considers the most prominent people and lists them. This is obvi-ously not a person-to person account of every individual in the line of Joshua, but more of a symbolic way of dividing the line-age. From Abraham to David we count fourteen generations. From David to the exile we count fourteen generations. From the exile to Christ we count fourteen generations. This number four-teen was symbolic for completeness because it is a multiple of seven as in the seven days of creation. The number three is also symbolic as it represents the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This lineage takes us to King David and to King **Solomon** the king line, a son who is also strong and fierce, **reminding us of the lion.**

When we take a closer look at Judah in the first fourteen genera-tions list of Matthew, we see this is the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Looking at the blessing from Genesis 49:8 we see why the Messiah is from this line:

Judah your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your sons' father will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub, oh Judah. You return from the prey, my son. Like a lion, he crouches and lies down. Like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah. Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it be-longs and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, His teeth whiter than milk.

We can clearly see the imagery set here for the Messiah, that is the Messiah Yehoshua. The imagery of blood, the wine, the scep-ter, the donkey, eyes like wine that is red. These images we can read from the gospels and also from the book of Revelation.

When we take a closer look at **Luke's account** we see that the genealogy follows us through from Abraham to King David like the other line, but instead of going to King Solomon – a king, we are taken to **Nathan** , another son of King David. Who was this son?

He is listed in 1 Chronicles 3:5. He is listed as one of the sons of David through Bathsheba which is also the case for King Solo-mon. Nathan was however not a king. We read in 1 Kings 1:11 that Nathan the prophet (not to be confused with his son) in-structs Bathsheba to remind King David to make Solomon the new king. Bathsheba does this and King David follows her ad-vice. This seems to be a way to safeguard the throne from Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith (and son of King David) a troublesome son of his. It is through King David's power that Solomon becomes king and what of Nathan?

Nathan seems to be a son of **humility and gentility, like a lamb**. He is not a king, but he also does not make trouble for his father or the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Judah is also mentioned in this lineage from Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. What is interesting about Mary's lineage is that it takes us to Adam, the first man in God, a spiritual man. This again brings us to a **place of humility** , our beginnings and of our falling short.

From both lineages of Joseph and Mary, we can see a fuller pic-ture of who this Christ Messiah is. He is from humble beginnings like that of Adam as well as humble and lamb-like qualities like that of Nathan, but then he is also strong and a king like a lion, like that of King Solomon, like that of the tribe of Judah. The prophecy in the blessing bestowed upon Judah can be seen ful-filled in the life of Yehoshua our Messiah.

We see ' _a shoot shall come from the stump of Jesse-from His roots a branch will bear fruit.' Isaiah 11:1. 'In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples: the nations will rally to him...' Isaiah 11:10. 'In that day, the Lord will reach out his hand a_ _Second time_ _to reclaim the remnant.'_ Isaiah 11:11.

Eliakim in this genealogy is the name Jehoiakim with a different rendering of it.

[The information below is provided by the following site: <http://www.pursiful.com/chronology/gen_jesus3.html>]
The Father of Shealtiel

_With Shealtiel, we are faced with precisely the same problem we face with Joseph: both genealogies purport to identify his father, but the two lists disagree! According to Jer. 22:30, apparently Jechoniah was condemned to die childless. The early death of Jehoiachin's son Zedekiah may well have been understood to be the fulfillment of this curse. This immediately suggests that, while Shealtiel was the legal heir of Jechoniah, he was not his biologi-cal descendant. How can this be?_ _Levirate marriage?_ _One pos-sibility is that, once Jechoniah was imprisoned in Babylon, his wife contracted a levirate marriage (Deut. 25:5-6) with Neri. The firstborn child of this union, Shealtiel, would legally be the heir of Jechoniah. But one must then ask why there are six others also listed as sons of "Jechoniah the captive" in 1 Chronicles 3. By the levirate custom, the children after Shealtiel would be consid-ered merely sons of Neri and would not appear in the 1 Chroni-cles genealogy at all._ _Zelophehad adoption?_ _According to the Zelophehad custom (Nu 36:8-9), if a man had no sons, he could adopt the husband of his oldest daughter. By this theory, Neri was Shealtiel's grandfather — the father of his mother. Thus, the line from Shealtiel back to Nathan (Lk) represents the ancestry of his mother, while the line back to Solomon (Mt) represents that of his father._ _Adoption?_ _The Seder Olam Zuta and the Yichus Letter in possession of the Zans Hassidim offer an_ _intriguing possibility_ _. According to these sources, King Josiah had two sons: Johanan and Eliakim (who assumed the name Jehoiakim upon his acces-sion to the kingship). Johanan's daughter Tamar married Neri (or Neriah), a prince from the line of Nathan. Neri and Tamar were the parents of Shealtiel and his brothers. Upon the death of Neri, Tamar married Jechoniah. Since his stepchildren were also of royal lineage — descendants of his own grandfather Josiah — Jechoniah adopted them as his own. According to the Zelo-phehad custom, a daughter can only pass on inheritance if she is married to a member of her father's house (cf. Nu 36). Since Tamar was married to Neri, another Davidic descendant, there does not seem to be any impediment in the kingship passing through her (as a descendant of King Josiah) to her son Shealtiel._
Jehoiachin's Curse

_Jehoiachin, also called Jechoniah or Coniah, deserves special mention. According to the book of Jeremiah, God pronounced a curse on Jehoiachin's line. This is most clearly expressed in Jer-emiah 22:28-30. Jeremiah 36:30 makes a similar pronouncement concerning Jehoiachin's father, Jehoiakim. Some scholars take this pronouncement to describe a permanent condemnation of Jehoiachin's line; others believe that Jeremiah's words were only intended for the near future — the lifetime of Jehoiachin himself. The theory that the curse upon Jehoiachin was only temporary is buttressed by_ _several facts_ _recorded in the Bible and early Jewish tradition. First, Jehoiachin apparently repented while in exile. The last chapter of 2 Chronicles records how he was elevated from prison and given special honors at the Babylonian court. Although he was not permitted to return to Judah, he is recog-nized by the Jews as the first Exilarch, or ruler, of the exiled community in Babylon. Second, there are also rabbinic sources that indicate God removed the curse on Jehoiachin, which they attribute to his repentance while in prison. For example, accord-ing to Leviticus Rabbah 19:6:_

_The Holy One, blessed be He, then said: "In Jerusalem you did not observe the precept relating to issues, but now you are ful-filling it," as it is said, As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I send forth thy prisoners out of the pit (Zec 9:11) [which means], You have remembered the blood at Sinai, and for this do "I send forth thy prisoners."_ R. Shabbethai said: He [Jeconiah] did not move thence before the Holy One, blessed be He, pardoned him all his sins. Referring to this occasion Scrip-ture has said: _Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no blemish in thee (Song 4:7). A Heavenly Voice went forth and said to them: 'Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings_ '" (Jer 3:22).

Pesiqta Rabbati 47 records the following:

R. Joshua ben Levi, however, argued as follows: _"Repentance sets aside the entire decree, and prayer half the decree. You find that it was so with Jeconiah, king of Judah. For the Holy One, blessed be He, swore in His anger, As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim kind of Judah were the signet on a hand, yet by My right_ — note, as R. Meir said, that it was by His right hand that God swore — _I would pluck thee hence_ (Jer 22:24). And what was decreed against Jeconiah? That he die childless. As is said _Write ye this man childless_ (Jer 22:30). But as soon as he avowed penitence, the Holy One, blessed be He, set aside the decree, as is shown by Scripture's reference to the sons of Jeconiah"—the same is Assir—Shealtiel his son, etc. (1 Ch 3:17). And Scripture says further _: In that day ... will I take thee, O Zerubbabel ... the son of Shealtiel ... and will make thee as a signet_ (Hag 2:23). Behold, then how penitence can set aside the entire decree!

_See also b.Sanhedrin 37b-38a; Pesiqta de Rab Kahana; and Numbers Rabbah 20:20). According to these sources, the curse was lifted because of Jehoiachin's repentance. At any rate, if the adoption theory is correct, it provides a loophole whereby Shealtiel and his descendants could be valid heirs of the Davidic throne regardless of any curses related to Jehoiachin. They were descendants of King Josiah, and thus of the royal line through their mother, but not through their natural father._ _Third_ _, in any event, the Bible is unanimous in casting Zerubbabel as the rightful heir and legal successor of Jechoniah. Later, rabbinic speculation insisted in no uncertain terms that the Messiah would be a de-scendant of Zerubbabel. The medieval Tanhuma Genesis states:_

Scripture alludes here to the verse, "Who art thou, O great moun-tain before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain" (Zec 4:7). This verse refers to the Messiah, the descendant of David. ... From whom will the Messiah descend? From Zerubbabel.

The Father of Zerubbabel

While Matthew and Luke agree that Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel, 1 Chronicles 3:19 identifies Pedaiah as his father. Once again, appeal may be made to the Jewish customs of levirate marriage and Zelophehad adoption. Once again, a simpler solu-tion seems to be the correct one. It should be noted that not only the Gospel genealogies but every Bible reference except 1 Chron-icles 3:19 gives Shealtiel as the father of Zerubbabel (cf. Hag 1:1; Ezr 3:2). In fact, even the LXX version of 1 Chronicles 3:19 gives Shealtiel, not Pedaiah, as the father of Zerubbabel and his broth-er Shimei. Apparently, the text of 1 Chronicles 3:19 has become corrupted through scribal error or the corruption or deterioration of the early manuscripts. The reference to Pedaiah is an incorrect reading that may be dismissed from consideration.

The Children of Zerubbabel

Here, there are a number of plausible solutions, but none that seems immediately and intuitively right. First, as a general obser-vation, we should note once again the possibility of gaps in the Gospel genealogies. This is especially the case in Matthew, who covers the time from Zerubbabel to Joseph — over 500 years — with only ten named ancestors! So Abiud need not be Zerubba-bel's son, or even his grandson. All that is required is that he be a descendant of Zerubbabel. Having said this, let us consider the options available and some possible explanations. Jewish tradi-tion traces five Davidic lines from Zerubbabel. Two of these lines derive from Zerubbabel's foreign wives; the remaining three from the children of Zerubbabel and his Jewish wife.

1. The line of Shazrezzar. Zerubbabel's first wife was a Babylonian princess named Amytis who was the mother of his firstborn son, Shazrezzar.

2. The line of Reza. Zerubbabel's second wife was a Persian princess named Rhodah. She was the mother of Zerubba-bel's second son, Reza.

3. The line of Meshullam. Zerubbabel's third wife was a Jewish princess named Esthra. Zerubbabel's eldest son from this marriage was Meshullam. It is from this line that the post-exilic Nesi'im ("Princes") of Israel are derived.

4. The line of Hananiah. Hananiah was the second son of Zerubbabel and Esthra. His descendants became the post-exilic Exilarchs (rulers of the exiled community) of Baby-lonia. The Exilarch Shecaniah III (ca. AD 50-80) is of special note. He was Exilarch at the time of the destruc-tion of the Second Temple in AD 70, and many Jews looked to him to be their king.

5. The line of Shelomith. Zerubbabel's lone daughter also came from his union with Esthra. Shelomith married Elnathan, governor of Judea, and became the ancestor of another Davidic line. Elnathan was himself a descendant of David through Shephatiah, a son by Abital, David's sixth wife.

Assuming that the Evangelists intended their genealogies to be truthful statements of Jesus' lineage, we must conclude that the Matthean genealogy is represented in one of these lines and the Lukan in one of the others. But which two lines? We must imme-diately dismiss the line of Hananiah from consideration. This line is the most thoroughly documented, and in fact, many Jews alive today trace descendancy from it. There is no plausible way to identify the people named by either Matthew or Luke with known heirs of this lineage. We may also disqualify the line of Shelomith and Elnathan. This line is fairly well documented. (Hillel the Great traced his Davidic lineage through this line.) As with the line of Hananiah, there is little chance of harmonizing the known genealogy of this line with the names found in the New Testament. Moreover, it is highly unlikely to find Matthew's genealogy in this line. As we shall see, Matthew seems to report the line of legal succession rather than natural descendancy. Since Shelomith was the youngest child of Zerubbabel, and since there were valid lines of succession through Zerubbabel's sons, there would be little room in Jewish law for a descendant of Shelomith to be the royal Davidic heir. The similarity of the names Reza and Rhesa (in Luke) immediately suggests the possibility that the line from Zerubbabel and princess Rhodah is in fact the lineage Luke de-scribed. Rhesa is a plausible Hellenized form of the Persian name Reza. Given the strong stance of Ezra and Nehemiah against mixed marriages, it would not be surprising of these lines of de-scent from Zerubbabel would be omitted from the Chronicler's genealogical data. This leaves two possibilities for the Matthean genealogy: the line of Shazrezzar and the line of Meshullam. What little is known about these two lines leaves us in a quandary as to which to choose. If Matthew (and presumably God) agreed with Ezra about the invalidity of Zerubbabel's sons from foreign wives, we are forced to find Abiud, Eliakim, and the rest in the line of Meshullam. Biblical history, however, itself suggests that having a foreign mother does not disqualify one from kingship of Israel: David had female ancestors who were Canaanite (Tamar, Ra-hab) and Moabite (Ruth). According to Deuteronomy 23:3, Mo-abites were to be excluded from the community of Israel "even to the tenth generation." Since David was a fourth-generation de-scendant of the Moabite Ruth, his claim even to Jewish identity is remarkably flimsy! If a foreign mother is not seen as an impedi-ment, then the line of Shazrezzar, the firstborn, is clearly to be preferred. Abiud and the rest might well be found several genera-tions down from Zerubbabel himself.
The Trinity:

If I ask a Catholic today, they will usually tell me: 'God is three persons in one: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The son of God, which is scriptural, is now inverted to God the son.

If I ask a Protestant, the view of focus changes more so from three persons to three functions. These three are the same func-tion: like an arm (Christ) and the heart (spirit) are to the body. But the body is one and the same, God.

If I ask a Jew, he will tell me 'The Lord Our God is ONE God.' This is even sometimes etched in stone or wood in the house.

A Messianic Jew has an interesting problem then, one of resolv-ing three different views of our God. Most will differ from Catholics views. Some agree with the Protestant views. Many Messianic Jews agree with Jews that God is ONE.

The interesting thing about being a Messianic Jew is that these fundamental beliefs for Protestants and Catholics are not fun-damental with them. Issues of salvation, evolution, trinity, law are all up to the individual to decide. Even in Jewish synagogue, the congregation is often asked if they agree with what the Rab-bi is teaching and if they have different views and why. This is a fundamental difference with Christianity and Judaism and one that has allowed corruption in many of the Christian teachings along its journey from over two thousand years ago.

Let us go over both the Trinitarian and Non-Trinitarian views:

Non Trinitarian:

'Here o' Israel, the Lord you God is One God.' They will tell me that God is not three persons in one, but One person, One god. Further they will continue to explain that the Christ is the Messi-ah, the Arm of God, the Word of God, the Truth, the Servant of God, the Son of God, and creation was made through Him but not By Him for it was By the Power of Hashem of YHVH. Christ was a man, not God. He was mediator between man and God.

These seem to be very different looks at 'who' God is, 'who' Christ is, and so this part is dedicated to giving the reader a bit more information regarding these subjects.

A Messianic Jewish Friend of mine provided this for me in dis-cussing this issue:

Lexical Facts about Elohim: Elohim, in fact, is singular in mean-ing when referred to the One God. This is shown by the singular verbs which normally follow, and by thousands of singular per-sonal pronouns. Elohim has a plural meaning when it refers to pagan "gods." Elohim has a singular meaning when designating a single pagan god, Milchom, Astarte, etc. Elohim, El, Eloah, and Yahweh are identical in meaning and singular in meaning when referring to the one true God. They are replaced by singu-lar personal pronouns. This information can be inspected in the Hebrew text, in translations and in all the standard Hebrew Lex-icons (Brown, Driver and Briggs, Kohler Baumgartner, Jenni and Westermann, etc.)

Genesis 1:1 in English... In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. In Hebrew... B'reshit bara elohim et hashamayim v'et haeretz. You will notice the Hebrew word, "bara", is singular. Why would a plural word such as elohim be used with a singular verb such as "bara (created)"? It is because there was only one doing the creating. In Hebrew, you must agree in number and gender. If there was more than one doing the creating, the word "baroo," instead of "bara," would have been used. Furthermore "elohim" is not God's personal name, elohim can be used to show overwhelming Greatness. Elohim is used in Genesis to show that God is the creator of all. It is used also to denote a king or angels as ancient rabbis have said. A god is not YHVH. God, elohim, is a general word denoting power and rank.

God had a plan (the Word) and that plan became flesh and tab-ernacled among us when Christ was conceived. Thus, Christ be-came "the Word in the flesh."

" _The Word became flesh,_ " is a statement that seems so obvious to us. Of course, Christ was flesh. He was born, grew, ate and slept, and Scripture calls him a man. However, what is clear to us now was not at all clear in the early centuries of the Christian era.

In John 1:1, the Bible must be understood in the context of the culture in which it was written. At the time of John's writing, the "Docetic" movement was gaining disciples inside Christianity. Docetic Christians believed Jesus was actually a spirit being, or god, who only "appeared" to be human. Some Docetists did not believe Christ even actually ate or drank, but only pretended to do so. Furthermore, some Jews thought that Christ was an angel.

In theological literature, theologians today call this "angel-Christology." John 1:14 was not written to show that Jesus was somehow pre-existent and then became flesh. It was to show that God's plan for salvation "became flesh," i.e., Jesus was not a spirit, god or angelic being, but rather a flesh-and-blood man. A very similar thing is said in 1 John 4:2, that if you do not believe Jesus has come in the flesh, you are not of God.

1 Timothy 2:5 Yehoshua is God's agent, His Servant as the prophet Isaiah tells us, God will send His servant:

Isaiah: 41:27 'I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.'

Isaiah: 42 'Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.'

Isaiah: 42:19 'blind like the servant of the Lord.'

Isaiah: 43:10 'And my Servant whom I have chosen.'

Timothy 2:5 states that there is now _"one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Jesus."_ Jesus' media-tion is accomplished through his role as High Priest after the or-der of Melchizedek. God does not mediate between Himself and man. He chooses men or angels to do this and, under the Chris-tian economy, it is a man, Yehoshua. He also appeared on earth as high priest, Heb. 9:11. Any inference that Yehoshua is both God and High Priest makes no sense. If God has ordained that there be a mediator, then by what logic can anyone claim that this mediator is God? If God is doing the mediating, then why not simply say, "I will be mediator between me and man?"

There are many reasons to challenge orthodoxy in regard to Jesus Christ's so-called Deity. God cannot die, God cannot be tempt-ed, God is incorruptible, God is omniscient, God cannot be the High Priest. Yehoshua is High Priest and therefore he cannot be God.

**In my views: God is the First and Last of All. Christ is the First and Last in corresponding to our Created existence.** The First thing to come out of God was Christ (the Word) through this Word (that is Christ) was formed the heavens and earth as the Gospel of John tells us that all things were made through the Word. However we have to understand it is by the power of Ha-shem, YHVH, our Heavenly Father.

Yehoshua existed in spirit as the first of all creations. John says the Word was with God and the word was God. What does this mean? God here is the word Elohim, which also means angels. The word that is Yehoshua was with the angels and was the an-gels, because he was like God and the angels. How? Because he has eternal life and is incorporeal, his ranking is that of a king and his power is that of a king. But that does denote him to be YHVH, the father.

We can also see that Christ had a beginning, not only from John's gospel, but also from Colossians _. In Colossians 1:15 Paul says that Christ is_ _the firstborn over all creation_. Christ was born, the first born. This makes sense if Christ was the first thing out of God's mouth and thereafter made all things **through Him.**

Rev 3:14 shows of His being created. There, He is called the be-ginning of the creation of God. However, the word for "begin-ning" (arche) is the same word used in Luke 20:20 where it is translated as "power" (kjv), "rule" (asv), or "authority" (rsv). It is also applied to Christ in Col 1:18 where it was translated as "be-ginning." It appears that both Col and Rev teach that Christ is showing that Christ is the ruler and authority over creation.

We can see this more clearly when we look at some ancient Rab-bi interpretations of this word and of the 'image of God, Elo-him':

From Rashbam:

27. God created humanity in the angelic image; in the image of the angels, God created humanity; God included the woman in the man and separated them later.

From Rashi:

25. God showed humility and, although God was the more pow-erful and alone was the Creator, God consulted with the angels saying, "There are beings in the heavens according to My like-ness and, if there are no beings according to My likeness in the lower realms, jealousy will be generated among the works of cre-ation; therefore, let us make humanity in our mold, with our pow-er to understand and to be intelligent,

From Rambam

Humanity would be like the earth in its corporeal manifestation and in its having a soul which allows movement, and it would be like God in form, that is, in the capacity for thought, wisdom, and action.

From Ezra:

_Let us make humankind in our image after our likeness_ ; that is, with a soul that is eternal, that is incorporeal, and that fills the body just as My Being is eternal, incorporeal, and fills the uni-verse for I, the Creator, am Creator of all; indeed I am all.

We can see from this that the word Elohim, according to our an-cient Rabbis, teach that it is of God and of angels and that the 'us' plural form of the word in the Genesis was in fact in refer-ence to angels. 'Let us' make humanity in our mold, in what mold? In the mold of YHVH like the angels have: with under-standing, intellect, angelic image, wisdom, and action, eternal and incorporeal.

So is the Word God, The Father YHVH in John's gospel? No, he is Elohim with the understanding of the wisdom from the an-cient Rabbis: the Word is with the likeness of God and the like-ness of Angels; that is having wisdom, understanding, intellect, in action, eternal, and incorporeal. If John meant to call Christ YHVH, the father he would have said that. He did not. He used instead the general word for God, as in power and rank.

Another Messianic Jewish friend of mine:

The Angel of YHVH comes in the name of YHVH and is some-times called YHVH. Such as when Ya'akov wrestled with an ANGEL, he afterward said, "I have seen YHVH face to face and lived." YHVH shows himself though his angel malakh-messenger. In Kabbalistic Judaism, this is exactly what is taught of Metatron (also equated with Mashiach) that he carries the name of his maker (YHVH), thus in certain passages where there is more than one YHVH, the kabbalists will explain that the sec-ond one is actually Metatron. The Targamim uses the phrase Ma-lakh YHVH. It is not wrong for the angel to be called YHVH. Remember Yeshua's words. "I come in my father's name." What is the name of the father? YHVH. Thus it is reasonable that Ye-shua, the AGENT of YHVH, the Divine Tzaddik, can be called YHVH, because he is called by the name of his maker. He carries the name within him

When Jacob wrestled with a heavenly being, he is said to have "seen God face to face." So Jacob is said to have wrestled with "God" (Gen. 32:24-30). However, we know from the word of the LORD to the prophet Hosea that Jacob, in struggling against God, actually wrestled with an angel. (Hos. 12:3-4). Jacob did not literally wrestle with the LORD (the principal); it was with an angel (His agent) that he wrestled. However, as the agent of the LORD, the angel is treated as the LORD. Again, we know this is so because the Bible insists: No one has ever seen God (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12; 1 Tim. 6:16)

When Jacob, as an old man, blessed Joseph's children, he said, _"May the God before whom my father's Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm — may he bless these boys."_ (Gen. 48:15-16). Surely, God Himself is not an angel, but the angel as His agent represented Him.

My view:

The Word is of YHVH, He comes in the name of YHVH, but He is not YHVH.

How is Christ 'Before Abraham was, I am.' Yehoshua existed before anyone and anything else. He was the First creation from YHVH. He was 'in the beginning' was the word. This John scripture sounds so much like Genesis chapter one. This is delib-erate, I think, so that we can see the echo of Yehoshua in the be-ginning, as the creation is being made through Him (But not By Him).

'Through him all things were made, in him was life, and that life was the light of men. John came to testify to this light.' — John 1-5

When Moses sees YHVH in the burning bush and YHVH speaks to Moses, he says in many Bibles, 'I am what I am.' People seem to link these two verses and think this is Christ telling us he is YHVH. No, from the Hebrew, we can see that the line actually reads, 'I will be as I will be.' In Kabbalah it is, 'I am becoming as I am becoming.'

Christ is not saying he is the great I am here, the father YHVH. He is merely stating that he existed prior to Abraham. How? In Spirit, as he was the first creation.

In the gospels, Christ also tells us that the Father is greater than he and that Christ does not know things (only the Father knows the hour of His return) and he is not everywhere at one time and Christ prays to the Father. In a prayer for believers in the gospel, Christ does say that the Father and He are one, and some take this to me that they are both God. But if we read further in that prayer, we can see that Christ says, 'I pray that they will be one with you as I am one with you.'

Does this mean we all will be gods? No, this means Christ and the Father are one in agreement and His prayer is that we as be-lievers will be one in agreement as well and that, through Him, Yehoshua, we may be one with YHVH, the Father. Christ never said he was God the son, as Catholics have inverted that mean-ing. He said he was **'The Son of God.** '

However the Protestants, in understanding the function of God and Christ and the Spirit, as one function and one agreement, are in the right direction.

We see in Revelation: **Rev 4:10** _The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,_ _Rev 4:11_ _Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created._

Are they worshipping Yehoshua? I don't think they were. They were worshipping YHVH. How do we know? Because later in the next chapter, we see now Yehoshua appears to them. How were they worshipping Yehoshua here in this place if they had not seen Him yet? **Rev 5:4** _And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the sev-en Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth._

What did the elders do in regards to Yehoshua? Rev 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. They gave many honors to Yehoshua, but worshipping Him they did not do. Worship is reserved for YHVH alone.

Yehoshua is YHVH's Servant:

Isaiah 53:10 **'yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer** _, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied, by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniqui-ties.'_

**Why does it not say** 'Yet it was his will to crush himself,' if Messiah and God are the same?

From a Friend:

\- John is known to use the word "hice" [one] in Greek to not on-ly represent numerical value but also as a means of expressing collective unity [John 10:30, 17:11, 21; 1John 5:6]. Now with the above understanding that these writers each had their own consistent terminology, take notice of a few things: "LORD" [Koorios] typically is the Greek cognate of the Hebrew Tetra-grammaton [cf. Matthew 4:7 w/ Deut. 6:16] or, in other cases, it can simply mean "master" [Matt. 10:24]. This word is NOT used in John 1:1 and, in fact, it doesn't even show up until twenty three verses later. Just as the Greek LORD [Kurios] doesn't show up in John's homily to creation week ["in the beginning"], neither does the Hebrew cognate of "LORD" [Tetragrammaton] show up in the Hebrew of the creation week. I think that there is a rea-son for this probably, but it's still just a hunch at this time.

Now notice Yeshua's use and application of the Hebrew word Elohim from Psalm 82 as we find it John 10:34. Elohim is ap-plied to men! Not to say that John 1:1 is simply talking about a man when it says the word "God" [theos], but my point is that John 10:34 is very literally translating the Hebrew and, in the Hebrew of creation week, one could argue that the angels [Elo-him] were the ones doing the creating as the agents of GOD [Blessed be He]. Elohim does mean angels in the Bible at times. [Psalm 8:5] If John has consistency in his usage of the word "theos" [the Greek cognate of Elohim], and we know that Ye-shua is called Elohim in scripture [Psalm 8:5], then we might be able to unravel the seemingly paradoxical statement of John 1:1. Think of how Yeshua could be referred to as Elohim without being referred to as HaShem.

Trinitarian:

This is from a Trinitarian friend of mine discussing this:

John 1:1, 4-The Word is Jesus; John 1:14-The Word was made Flesh; John 14:6, 7-Jesus said; John 11:25, 26-Jesus said The Fa-ther is God; 1 Peter 1:2 Jesus is God; John 20:28 The Holy Spirit is God; Acts 5:3, 4

All three are said to be Omnipresent (everywhere present) Fa-ther- John 4:19-24; Son-Matthew 28:20; Holy Spirit-Psalms 139:7

All three are said to be Omniscient (all-knowing) Father-Psalms 139:1, 2; Son-Matthew 9:4; Holy Spirit-1 Corinthians 2:10

All three are said to be Omnipotent (all-powerful) Father-1 Peter 1:5; Son- Matthew 28:18; Holy Spirit-Romans 15:19

Ascribed to each person: - **Holiness** \- Father-Revelation 15:4; Son-Acts 3:14; Holy Spirit-John 16:7-14 - **Eternity** \- Father-Psalms 90:2; Son-Micah 5:2, John 1:2, and Revelations 3:7; Holy Spirit-Hebrews 9:14 - **Truth-** Father-John 14:6, 7; Son-Revelation 1:8, 17; Holy Spirit-1 John 5:6 and Matthew 28:19- _Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit_ : Note; the word name is singular. Zechariah 12:10- Christ crucifixion- God says, _they shall look upon me whom they have pierced._

Read: 1st I Am (God's name) Exodus 3:14, 2nd-John 8:24, 28, and 3rd-John10:30. Take for example, Jesus' words in John 10:30, " _I and the Father are one_." At first glance, this might not seem to be a claim to be God. However, look at the Jews' reac-tion to His statement, "We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God" (John 10:33). The Jews understood Jesus' statement to be a claim to be God. In the following verses, Jesus never corrects the Jews by saying, "I did not claim to be God." That indicates Jesus was truly saying He was God by declaring, " _I and the Father are_ one." (John 10:30). John 8:58 is another example. Jesus declared, " _I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!"_ Again, in response, the Jews take up stones in an attempt to stone Jesus (John 8:59). Why would the Jews want to stone Jesus if He hadn't said something they believed to be blasphemous, namely, a claim to be God?

In Revelation, an angel instructed the Apostle John to only wor-ship God (Revelation 19:10). Several times in Scripture, Jesus receives worship (Matthew 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38). He never rebukes people for worshiping Him. If Je-sus were not God, He would have told people to not worship Him, just as the angel in Revelation had. Thomas the disciple de-clared concerning Jesus, "Lord and my God" (John 20:28). Jesus does not correct him. Titus 2:13 encourages us to wait for the coming of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (see also 2 Peter 1:1). Amen.

Speaking of Jesus' Second Coming, Matthew 24:36 (and Mark 13:32) tells us, _"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."_ When Jesus spoke these words to the disciples, even He had no knowledge of the date and time of His return. Although Jesus was fully God (John 1:1, 14), when He became a man, He volun-tarily restricted the use of certain divine attributes (Philippians 2:6–8). He did not manifest them unless directed by the Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). He demonstrated His omniscience on several occasions (John 2:25; 3:13), but He voluntarily restricted that omniscience to only those things God wanted Him to know during the days of His humanity (John 15:15). Such was the case regarding the knowledge of the date and time of His return. Af-ter He was resurrected, Jesus resumed His full divine knowledge (Matthew 28:18; Acts 1:7). Matthew 24:36 clearly states that the Father alone knows when Jesus' return will be. Verses such as John 5:30; 6:38; 8:28-29; 10:30; 12:49; 14:28, 31; and Mat-thew 26:39, 42 demonstrate Jesus' submission to the Father as well as their Oneness in the Godhead. Yes, they are both God. But some things Jesus had apparently chosen to "give up the rights" to be privy to during His earthly ministry (see Philippians 2:5-11). Jesus, now exalted in Heaven, surely knows all, includ-ing the timing of His Second Coming. Amen.

The Trinity Chart (with my views embedded)

CALLED GOD

Father - Phil. 1:2

Son - John 1:1, 14, Col. 2:9

Holy Spirit - Acts 5:3-4

In the beginning was the Word (this is one more reason I think Christ existed at the beginning), but notice this is the beginning (creation), this is not eternal existence. There is a beginning to it. Christ had a beginning which was in the beginning, at creation just like the first line in Genesis. Remember all things were made through him because he is the Word (but not by him, it was by the power of the Father)

CREATOR

Father - Isaiah 64:8

Son - John 1:3, Col. 1:15-17

Holy Spirit - Job 33:4, 26:13

All things were created through him (as he is the Word) when God spoke, Christ came to be. But things were made by the power of the Father and by the Father's will.

RESURRECTS

Father - 1 Thess. 1:10

Son - John 2:19, 10:17

Holy Spirit - Rom. 8:11

Yes, God gives power and miracles to his chosen like Moses, as well. The Messiah is God's son and was given power to do these things. But it was the power of God and the will of God that allows it and brings it.

INDWELLS

Father- 2 Cor. 6:16

Son- Col. 1:27

Holy Spirit- John 14:17

Yes, Christ indwells in us, because God's words are to indwell in us. This is how we become one with God, by completely accept-ing and living his Word.

EVERYWHERE

Father- 1 Kings 8:27

Son- Matt. 28:20

Holy Spirit- Psalm 139:7-10

He is with you even to the end of age, not everywhere. He is with you because he is inside you. You are taking his Word with you.

ALL-KNOWING

Father- 1 John 3:20

Son- John 16:30; 21:17

Holy Spirit- 1 Cor. 2:10-11

If he was all-knowing, he would know the hour of his second coming, which he says only the Father knows. Notice they say, by this we believe 'you came from God' not that you are god.

What does he know all things about? He knows all moral things; he knows all things in relation to creation since through him it was made. But this does not mean he knows the future, except what God the Father allows him to see.

Remember, he prays to God to take away the crucifixion. He asks, "Is this the only way?" And he then realizes and knows it is. This knowledge is brought by God and God still has the pow-er as Jesus is praying to him, asking him about the future.

SANCTIFIES

Father- 1 Thess. 5:23

Son- Heb. 2:11

Holy Spirit- 1 Pet. 1:12

Yes, he sanctifies, because he is the Word of God. He is the truth and the truth sets you free and sanctifies you.

LIFE GIVER

Father- Gen. 2:27: John 5:21

Son- John 1:3; 5:21

Holy Spirit- 2 Cor. 3:6, 8

Truth that is Christ gives you life so that you may be set free from the bondage of lies and sins.

FELLOWSHIP

Father- 1 John 1:3

Son- 1 Cor. 1:9

Holy Spirit- 2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1

We commune with Messiah because his word is within us, and we remember him on Sabbath.

ETERNAL

Father- Psalm 90:2

Son- Micah 5:1-2

Holy Spirit- Rom. 8:11; Heb. 9:14

Micah tells us his origins are old from ancient times. These are the times of the Genesis creation. Christ was the very first word out of Hashem and therefore, the oldest to exist. These days are referred to as 'ancient times' or 'days of old' from Moses as well in Deuteronomy.

A WILL

Father- Luke 22:42

Son- Luke 22:42

Holy Spirit- 1 Co. 12:11

Yes, he has a will, and it is in accord with the Father. That is why he says, "The father and I are one."

SPEAKS

Father- Matt 3:17; Luke 9:25

Son- Luke 5:20; 7:48

Holy Spirit- Acts 8:29; 11:12; 13:2

Forgiveness of sins, Messiah is from God for this purpose.

LOVE

Father- John 3:16

Son- Eph. 5:25

Holy Spirit- Rom. 15:30

Yes, Christ dies for the church, so that through him we may all be one with the Father, because he is Hashem's servant.

SEARCHES THE HEART

Father- Jer. 17:10

Son- Rev. 2:23

Holy Spirit- 1 Cor. 2:10

The Word does search out the heart; the Word is the truth, a double-edged sword. Christ is the Word.

WE BELONG TO

Father- John 17:9

Son- John 17:6

Holy Spirit

\--Yes.

SAVIOR

Father- 1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; 4:10

Son- 2 Tim. 1:10; Titus 1:4

Holy Spirit

\--Yes.

WE SERVE

Father- Matt. 4:10

Son- Col. 3:24

Holy Spirit

We serve God through following and living in truth, his Word, in Christ,

BELIEVE IN

Father- John 14:1

Son- John 14:1

Holy Spirit

Yes, we ought to see and believe God's Word, his truth.

GIVES JOY

Father- ------

Son- John 15:11

Holy Spirit- John 14:7

Truth gives joy.

JUDGES

Father- John 8:50

Son- John 5:21, 30

Holy Spirit

The Word is there to act as a judge, like the law of the Old Tes-tament. The Word is Christ and it is from God, but it is not God as in the father Hashem. It is God in the sense of power and rank. Spiritually, Christ and God the Father are one in a way no one else could ever be, and so it is through him alone we can be brought back to the Father, but physically (mentally, emotionally, in body), Christ was a natural man.

Perhaps many of these can be understood more fully with the understanding that Christ is a part of God, but that does not mean he is all of God.

As Christ said 'the Father is greater than the son'.

For myself, I stand in the middle between the two sides, each having their points to be made. However, I cannot come to say that Christ is fully Hashem or that Christ is fully man, either. For myself, I view the spiritual aspects of Christ as Godlike and the physical aspects of Christ as man.

This explains to me how Christ is able to not know some things only the Father knows and not be as great, as well as be tempted, because he is bound by the flesh, the physical. However because he is spiritually the Living Word of God, he overcomes. This helps me to understand how Christ can be of God completely because his very essence is of the Living Word, yet have a birth time that of when Hashem spoke these words 'in the beginning' of Genesis 1. Christ, to me, existed spiritually in the beginning as far back as the ancient times 'the days of old,' the very first syl-lable out of God's mouth gave birth to the Living Word that is Christ. This is why it was through him all things were made, be-cause it was through the words of God speaking that all things were made.

Spiritually speaking, Christ is the Word of God, not God, in that he is his very essence, the "Living Word." However, he had a birth point at the time of Hashem's (the father's) first word. Physically, he was born as well from Mary, and this marks his physical form which is completely human.

I hold that Yehoshua Christ was physically fully human in that he was of the seed of Joseph and the egg of Mary and through a miracle of combining the two while Mary was still a virgin, it was implanted it into Mary's womb, or possibly through their carnal knowing of each other since they were betrothed. I do not hold that Christ is the seed of God since God is not flesh or of the natural world. God is spiritual and justly so has no natural seed to impart. God would have used the seed of Joseph, which makes the most sense, because he was a fertile and capable and willing husband to be for Mary. Christ is of God not in any phys-ical sense, but in the spiritual sense only. Christ is of God, be-cause his spirit is the 'Living Word,' the Living Word of God.

The point which makes me view Christ very connected to God is that we are told to worship Christ in scripture. In Revelation, an angel instructed the Apostle John to only worship God (Revela-tion 19:10). Several times in Scripture, Jesus receives worship (Matthew 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38). He nev-er rebukes people for worshiping Him. In Hebrews, we see Christ the son worshiped as well.

Therefore it seems spiritually he is connected as one to God in a way that only he is and is the full representative of God alone, though he is not the Father, God.
Forgiveness and Atonement

From my Jewish friend Tivon:

Go through the list of each type of offering and you will find even the guilt sacrifices only applied to stealing from the altar of the tabernacle/temple of God. The sin offering is only for unin-tentional sins. The closest you will find to backing up the Chris-tian thought on sins being forgiven through acts is the burnt of-fering. If you look through the Torah, you will find they were done to show submission to Hashem like Noach does when he exits the Ark. I think the story of Yonah and the Ninivites is one of the best stories to bring up when it comes to repentance. No-tice not one person gave up any sacrifice to repent, yet they are reported to have fully been remorseful and truly repented.

In my views:

Yehoshua was for atonement of sins, not for forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness comes from the heart, and asking it of God, and be-ing sorry in the heart. But one is still dirty....though forgiven. Yehoshua provides that cleansing.

Yehoshua is our Passover lamb, so that death passes over us as in the Passover of Moses in Egypt. Yehoshua is a guilt offering for our sins. The prophet Isaiah tells us in 53:10 ' _Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, he will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.'_

But forgiveness comes from your heart in asking God for it, from true repentance. Something interesting from the Babylonian Talmud shows us scriptures even the Rabbis of the 1st/2nd centu-ries considered messianic.

What is his [the Messiah's] name? The Rabbis said: His name is "the leper scholar," as it is written, _"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted."_ (Sanhedrin 98b)
The 7 Feasts of Israel (and Chanukah)

Times to remember. The seven Feasts of Israel. They were com-manded by God in the Old Testament to be remembered. We can learn a lot from them about God and about Messiah. Below I have listed them out for you with their importance to Christ, our Messiah.

• Passover Nisan 14 (March/April)

• Unleavened Bread Nisan 15 (March/April)

• Fruits Nisan 16 (March/April)

• Weeks (Harvest/Shavuot) Nisan, 50 days after first fruits (May/June)

• Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) Tishri 1-2, Sept/Oct

• Atonement (Yom Kippur) Tishri 10 (Sept/Oct

• Tabernacles (Ingathering) Tishri 15-22 (Sept/Oct)

Dedication (Chanukah) Kislev, 24th (Christ conceived): 25th Kislev begins-8 days.

Passover:

WHEN: Passover, a feast which commences Israel's religious year, is often referred to as the Feast of Unleavened Bread be-cause only unleavened bread was eaten during the seven days immediately following Passover.

WHAT: Passover occurred almost 3500 years ago in Egypt. It was there, at that time, that a lamb was sacrificed, and the blood was applied to each doorpost and lintel. When done in faith and in obedience to God's command, that home was "passed over" by the death angel and the firstborn was spared. All subsequent observances over the centuries were memorials of that one and only first Passover.

FULFILLMENT: Yeshua was crucified during the Passover event. He and His disciples ate a Passover meal together on the eve of His death. During this meal, Jesus said, "This is my body," and "this cup is the new testament in my blood" (Luke 22:7, 19-20). All of those lambs sacrificed in Egypt (one per household) pointed to the one true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Writing to the Corinthi-ans, the Apostle Paul noted for all of time, "Christ, our Passover (Lamb), is sacrificed for us" (I Corinthians 5:7).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

WHEN: on the fifteenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan, God appointed another festival. This feast would last seven days and be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

WHAT: Unleavened bread reflected the fact that the Israelites had no time to put leaven in their bread before their hasty depar-ture from Egypt; it was also apparently connected to the barley harvest (Leviticus 23:4-14). Leaven symbolized sin and unleav-ened symbolized purity. The Lord said to His disciples, "Beware of the leaven (false doctrine) of the Pharisees" (Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15). In addition, the apostle Paul warned the Church at Corinth that "a little leaven (yeast) leaveneth (ferments) the whole lump" (I Corinthians 5:6).

FULFILLMENT: Yehoshua would not decay in the grave. There would be no decomposition of His body. God would not "allow thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27). The Feast of Unleavened Bread proclaims that Christ's physical body would not experience the ravages of death while in the grave. The first day of unleavened is also holy.

Messianic Judaism contends that the week of Yehoshua's death was a triple Sabbath: Passover followed by the unleavened bread, followed by the weekly Sabbath. Yehoshua was in the tomb three full days and nights like he said, from Wednesday to Saturday evening. Sunday he waited for Mary Magdalene.

Feast of First Fruits

WHEN: The third feast occurs of the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

WHAT: Barley, which is the first crop to be planted in winter, is now beginning to ripen for its spring harvest. The first sheaf, or first fruits, of the harvest is carefully cut and presented to the Lord.

FULFILLMENT: _"But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept"_ (I Corinthians 15:20). Paul had in mind the first sheaf (first fruits) of the barley harvest (Leviticus 23:10). When God accepted the first fruits, they be-came the guarantee that the rest of the crop would indeed be harvested, for Jesus (Yehoshua) himself is the "first fruits" (I Co-rinthians 15:23).

Feast of Weeks

WHEN: the term weeks was used to describe the time period from the grain harvest to the barley harvest and, finally, to the wheat harvest. It is called the Feast of Weeks because God spe-cifically told the sons of Jacob that they were to count seven sevens of weeks (seven complete weeks) from First fruits (Levit-icus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:9).

WHAT: two loaves were specifically commanded to be made with fine flour and baked with leaven (Leviticus 23:17), and they were to be used as a "wave offering" for the people. These two loaves, however, could not be eaten until after the ceremony was completed (Leviticus 23:14; Joshua 5:10-11). Also, two lambs, one young bull, and two rams were to be offered as burnt offerings before the Lord (Leviticus 23:15-22; Numbers 28:26-31). The feast was concluded by the eating of communal meals to which the poor, the stranger, and the Levites were invited.

FULFILLMENT: This fourth feast was to occur precisely fifty days after First fruits (Christ's resurrection). Therefore, the feast was given the name "Pentecost" (Acts 2:1) which means "fifty." The ripening of the harvest, making of believers.

Feast of Trumpets

WHEN: The Jewish people call this feast Rosh Hashanah, which literally means "Head of the Year," and it is observed as the start of the civil year (in contrast with the religious year which starts with Passover) on the Jewish calendar.

WHAT: The Feast of Trumpets is so important in Jewish thinking that it stands alongside Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement") to comprise what Judaism calls "the high holy days" on the Jewish religious calendar. It begins the "ten days of awe" before the Day of Atonement. According to Leviticus 23:24-27, the cele-bration consisted of a time of rest, "an offering made by fire," and the blowing of the trumpets.

FULFILLMENT: Matthew 24:31 _'And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds and from one of the heavens to the other.'_

Day of Atonement

WHEN: the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is on the tenth of the first Hebrew month, Tishri (Sept/Oct). The ten days from Trumpets to the Day of Atonement are known as "the days of awe" which include penitence, prayer and fasting in preparation for the most solemn day of the Jewish religious calendar — the Feast of Tabernacles.

WHAT: The people of Israel were to humble their souls (Leviti-cus 23:27), to indicate fasting and repentance. Israel understood that this was a day for mourning over their sins. The Day of Atonement was a "Sabbath of rest" (Leviticus 23:32), and the Israelites were forbidden to do any work.

**FULFILLMENT:** "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all the nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:31-34)

Feast of Tabernacles

WHEN: The seventh and final Feast of the Lord is the Feast of Tabernacles, lasting 8 days. It occurs five days after the Day of Atonement on the fifteenth of Tishri (Sept/Oct). This feast is also called the Feast of Ingathering (Exodus 23:16; 34:22), the Feast to the Lord (Leviticus 23:39; Judges 21:9), the Feast of Booths, or simply "the feast" (Leviticus 23:36; Deuteronomy 16:13; I Kings 8:2; II Chronicles 5:3, 7:8; Nehemiah 8:14; Isaiah 30:29; Ezekiel 45:23, 25) because it was so well-known.

WHAT: Besides the construction of the booths, other festivities included the ingathering of the labor of the field (Exodus 23:16), the ingathering of the threshing floor and winepress (Deuteron-omy 16:13), and the ingathering of the fruit of the earth (Leviti-cus 23:39).

FULFILLMENT: 'The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.' (John 1:14)

" _In the last day (eighth day), that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water"_ ( **John** 7:37-38).

Messianic Judaism holds this time as the birth time of Yehoshua our messiah. The first day reserved for his birth and the last day (8 days later) as His circumcision

Feast of Dedication, Chanukah

WHEN: This feast is not ordered by law in the Old Testament, but is kept for memory. The annual festival is celebrated for eight days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar. This falls in December.

WHAT: Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Tem-ple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 BC, and includes the lighting of candles, one the first night, two the second, and so on until eight candles have been lit in a special candelabrum called a menorah.

FULFILLMENT: Christ is shown celebrating Chanukah in John 10:22, 23. It is at this celebration that He declares, "I and My Father are One" [John 10:30], which testifies to His Divine origin in His conception.

Messianic Judism: It also reinforces Chanukah as the time of His conception. Christ is the 'light' Menorah of the world.

Haggai 2:18-19 - _Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (On the Hebrew calendar it is 24 Kislev) from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you._
Part Two: Christian Dissension

The Roman Census

Luke 2:1-3: _In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman World. (_ This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syr-ia _.) And everyone went to his own town to register._

The issue is that the only recorded account we have of Quirinius is as governor of Syria in 6 AD, and giving a taxation census then causes a revolt of the Jews, and is later mentioned in the New Testament. This taxation is not often refuted. However, there is not much information supporting a possible census of 7 BC or that Quirinius would have been in charge of it in 7 BC. Augustus also is argued to not have held a census requiring non-citizens, but only citizens of Rome, or so that is the argument.

Let us look at some of the non-existent evidence:

The Biblical historian, Luke, tells us in his gospel about a Roman census, a decree that went out from Augustus that, 'all the world should be registered.' An issue arises, because it has been claimed that there is no evidence of such a decree in a well-known documented period of time. It has been argued that tak-ing a census was not even a known practice.

One piece of evidence refuting this argument is a citation from an official governmental order dated A.D. 104. Gaius Vibius Maximus, prefect of Egypt (says): _'Seeing that the time has come for the house to house census, it is necessary to come all those who, for any cause whatsoever are residing outside their provinc-es, to return to their own homes, that they may both carry out the regular order of the census and may attend diligently to the culti-vation of their allotments.'_

Ecumene (oy-kou-men-ay) is all the empire, the entire world, the earth, the portion of earth inhabited by all Greeks, all the subjects of the empire, not just the Roman Empire. This is the word in Luke's gospel account. I received this information from a friend who is a Greek authority; however, you may look it up inde-pendently on www.bible.org

Many argue that this census was never over the entire world, that only the Romans, and not the Jews like Mary and Joseph, were a part of the census. However, I agree a world-wide census most likely only covered the world known to the Romans and the land and peoples they governed, but to propose that the Jews would not be included, when they were considered like property, just doesn't make sense. Of course, the Roman government would want to have a handle on how many Jews there were and over what part of their lands. A few important reasons, without even researching, would be for military/strategic reasons. The Romans would want to protect their lands and also know who they had to send to battle.

But there is a lot of evidence I found and listed below.

From "History of the Roman Empire":

'The population of the world circa AD 1 has been considered to be between 200 and 300 million people. In the same period, the population of the early empire under Augustus has been placed at about 45 million people. Using 300 million people as the world benchmark, the population of the Empire under Augustus would've made up about 15% of the world's population. Of this 45 million people, Augustus declared within his own census that: in 28BC, the citizen population was 4,063,000 (including both men and women); in 8 BC, 4,233,000; in AD 14, 4,937,000.

The census of 70 BC showed 910,000 men held citizenship, which is far short of Augustan citizen numbers (roughly 4 mil-lion), but more than overall numbers (roughly 4 million) just a century later. The large discrepancy would seem to account for the fact that Augustus probably counted more than even citizen men and related family members (including women). He may have included non-citizen free men, freedmen and slaves as well, but this we can never be certain.

This information is not from any Christian affiliated logs, but an independent historical account of the censuses of Rome. It is ev-ident that there is a discrepancy within the census of the Roman Empire itself in the recorded numbers of population. It is not unreasonable to conclude this is because there were times non-citizens were also recorded in the census.

We also know that Augustus had a propensity for counting and taxing, according to our historical records. He documents in his own records how he counts the Roman nation some three times. _(Res Gestae Divi Augusti, 8-from Roman Civilization-sourcebook II: the Empire, eds. Lewis and Reinhold, pg. 12)._ He also increas-ingly levied detailed taxes throughout his reign.

The census provided information on the number of citizens, and it also served Augustus for the use of future taxation revenues. But that would not have been his only motive. The census was also a great part of military assessment. The Roman Empire needed to know how many men were living in the Roman Em-pire in case of war either from their non citizens or to use them as expendable soldiers.

It is clear Augustus had motive and means for a worldwide cen-sus. It is also evident that, within the records of the Roman Em-pire, there are discrepancies in numbers in regards to the popula-tions recorded. All of this supports the gospel of Luke's assertion of Augustus' World Wide Roman Empire. In fact, it is just common sense that Augustus would have a worldwide census. The Roman Empire wasn't in the habit of charity and thus wouldn't let non-citizens live on their land without being taxed. To be taxed, the population has to be counted and a census has to be taken. To argue that Augustus didn't count non-citizens in the census records, or never took a worldwide census goes against common sense and against supporting evidence in the Roman records.
The Governor Quirinius

Luke2:2 _: 'Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Au-gustus to register all the empire for taxes.'_ This was the first reg-istration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

The issue arises that Quirinius was governor of Syria in 6 AD, not governor over Judea, and so wouldn't have overseen a taxa-tion census, if one even existed. Christ being born in 7 BC, plac-es him very close to this time. From history books we see Arche-laus was disposed of in 6 AD after taking office in 4 BC when King Herod died in 4 BC. One of Quirinius' first tasks as gov-ernor of Syria would have been to liquidate his estate and hold a census to determine tribute of the load.

Egemonevon is Greek for 'one who leads' and is used in Luke's gospel account. Egemonevontos Kyrinaiou means 'when Kyr-inaius was leading/ruling/governing.'

We know from history that Quirinius was in fact a governor of Syria. But did this require him to oversee the census of the Ro-man Empire in Judea and twice, once during the Messiah's birth (7 BC), and a second time in 6 AD?

(www.wikipedia.com)

Tiles found in Caesarea Maritime, built in the second decade BC, suggest that the legion was at that time based in Judea. Later, x Fretensis moved to Syria. In AD 6, it was stationed in that prov-ince together with legions III Gallica, VI Ferrata, and XII Ful-minata. In the same year, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Syria, led those legions in the suppression of the revolt that sprung out after the killing of Herod Archelaus.

This shows us that Quirinius was involved with legions. It also shows us that a Roman Empire Legion was centered in Judea until it was moved to Syria.

(www.wikipedia.com)

In 6 BC, one of Quirinius' first duties was to carry out a census to assess the new province for tax purposes. At the same time, Coponius was prefect of Judea; but Quirinius went there also, as a Legate of Syria, since the levying of the tax on the entire prov-ince was his special duty. This shows us that, though Judea had another prefect, it was still Quirinius' job to take care of the taxa-tion census.

( _Publius Sulpicius Quirinius-article by Jona Lendering_ )

Judaea becomes an autonomous part of the Roman province Syr-ia, ruled by a prefect. Quirinius was ordered to organize the taxa-tion of the new prefecture. Until then, taxes had been paid in kind. However, during the census Quirinius organized, the inhab-itants were ordered to declare their property in money. There are no indications that the Roman taxes were any higher than before, but taxes in money were more onerous than taxes in kind, be-cause a farmer had to borrow in case of a poor harvest.

This shows us that not only was Judaea ordered to submit to the governor Quirinius of Syria for taxation purposes, but that it was also controlled by a prefect. Multiple peoples were involved in overseeing a region from legions, administrators, prefects, and governors. Quirinius served as governor of Syria with nominal authority over Judaea from 6 BC until AD 12. I think we can see that Quirinius had authority over Judaea for the taxation cen-sus.

(Publius Sulpicius Quirinius-article by Jona Lendering)

Between 5 BC and 3 BC, Quirinius fought against a brigand tribe that was called Homonadensians. Perhaps he was later ap-pointed as governor over the very rich province of Asia, but this is not certain.

A Latin inscription called the Lapis Tiburtinus mentions someone who had been the proconsul of Cyrene in modern Libya, who later subdued the Homonadensians and then again ... This dis-covered in 1764 gives weight to the idea that Quirinius was in fact in position of authority in Syria on two separate occasions.

Strabo, 1.12. c. 6. 5:479 - wrote about the Homonadensians, a people of Cilicia: 'Quirinius overcame them by force and took 4000 men and distributed them into neighboring cities.

The first time Quirinius led was as governor in leading military components against the Homonadensians during the period be-tween some records of 12 BC to 2 BC. This allows him leader-ship in 7BC-6BC over the Judea taxation census. The leadership in Syria while Quirinius was governor as a military leader over the Homonadensians was not good. Quintilius Varus and Arche-laus lost battles, were corrupt, and did a poor job for the Roman Empire. Augustus would not have entrusted either of them with a worldwide census. Augustus would have entrusted Quirinius with this Census task in 6/7BC.

To begin the continued or second census in about 6 AD, Augus-tus would have entrusted Quirinius with the volatile problem of Palestine. The second time was as a full governor over Syria in 6AD, which history shows us he was in fact in leadership in Syr-ia at that time. Augustus, trusting Quirinius after his victories over the Homonadensians in Asia Minor, made him a perfect candidate to later take over in 6 AD after the disposed Quintilius Varus, who was governor over Syria from 7BC to 4 BC, and then disposed Archelaus in 6 AD. After a running of bad lead-ership, Augustus would have trusted Quirinius even more.

Another point to mention is that a worldwide census was a mas-sive project and could have taken years to complete, and proba-bly was done in parts. Such a census for the purpose of taxation began in Gaul around 109 BC and took 40 years to complete. It is likely that the census of Quirinius when governing over Syria in 6 AD did not begin at that time, but began in Palestine some-time earlier. Organization and preparations may have begun in 6/7BC and delayed until 6 AD, or the process to count everyone may have been done again since we know Augustus was a stick-ler for recounting to ensure the numbers were correct. It is pos-sible someone else began the census at that earlier time of 7 BC, but that Quirinius finished it in 6 AD and thus got credit for the entirety of that census.

It is also possible this census mentioned in Luke 2, and later again when the Jews revolt, is the same census since many counts were done more than once as shown by the Romans' own rec-ords, and a worldwide census would have taken a long period of time to complete.

Summary of Quirinius leadership roles:

14BC - governor of Crete

12BC - named consul

12-2BC - military governor of Syria over the Homonadensians

*6/7BC (birth of Christ) Entrusted with a taxation census over Judea, Syria (is argued)

Mentioned in Luke's gospel 2:1

6BC-dispatched to govern Galatia. Geographically Syria, Egypt and then Judaea are closest to Galatia

AD1- Chief advisor to Augustus

AD6- Quirinius made governor of Syria and carried out a census of Judaea as legate of Syria. (This is recorded in the New Testa-ment later, when the Jews revolt)

Possibly this census is the same census from 7BC mentioned by Disciple Luke, which would have taken 12 years to complete and he, being the finishing governor, was given credit for its entirety.
Women in the Church

We can see in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testa-ment, YHVH has an important role for women. I would like to discuss this role in both Testaments.

Old Testament:

Eve: God makes male and female in His image. God uses the rib of the man as a symbol of their equality. An old story of the rib is told by Rabbi Joshua:

"God deliberated from what member He would create woman, and He reasoned with Himself thus: I must not create her from Adam's head, for she would be a proud person, and hold her head high. If I create her from the eye, then she will wish to pry into all things; if from the ear, she will wish to hear all things; if from the mouth, she will talk much; if from the heart, she will envy people; if from the hand, she will desire to take all things; if from the feet, she will be a gadabout. Therefore I will create her from the member which is hid, that is the rib, which is not even seen when man is naked."[9] (Wikepedia)

The words used for the creation of the female and her help to man imply equality (Hebrew: ézer k neged). This word is the same word used for help that YHVH gives His people. There is nothing denoting less importance in this word for helper.

Miriam: She was a leader in Israel. Micah 6:4 - God says He sent Moses, also Aaron and Miriam to lead the Israelites.

Deborah: A judge and leader of Israel and a prophet. Judges 4:4. Deut 17:9-12

Huldah: A prophet who was consulted by high priests. 2 Kings 22:11-20; 2 Chr. 34:22-28

Isaiah's Wife: Called a prophet (Isa 8:3)

Joel 2: 28-29 YHVH will pour out His Spirit on all people. Sons and daughters will prophesy. YHVH will pour out His Spirit even on men and women servants. Acts 2:16-18 The scripture is fulfilled on Pentecost.

Esther: Was called by YHVH to save her people and to become a leader over them.

New Testament:

Mark 15:40 Luke 8:1-3: Women were allowed to support Ye-hoshua financially.

Mat 19:4-9 Mark 10:2-9, John 8:7: Men leave their parents to be united with their wife. Women did not leave their family to be united with their husband.

Mat 9:20 Mark 5:25 Luke 8:43: Jewish women were not sup-posed to speak in public to a religious leader, because of the Greco-Roman influences over the Jewish culture. Yet Yehoshua called her to public dialogue and called her daughter. He af-firmed her faith in public when it was shameful for women to read from religious teachings in public, because of the Greco-Roman influences on Jewish culture.

Luke 13:10-17: Yehoshua called a crippled woman to the front of the synagogue where women were not allowed. He called her a daughter of Abraham when only men were referred to as sons of Abraham.

John 11:27 Mat 12:47 Mark 10:29: Whoever did the will of YHVH was considered His brother, and sister, and mother.

John 11:27 Luke 10:38: Martha had the Revelation that Yehosh-ua was the Messiah. Yehoshua let Mary sit at his feet, which was a phrase meaning a student learning from a teacher.

Mat 12:42: The Queen of Sheba would rise in judgment and condemn the generation of his day.

Mat 28:8-10 John 20:17 Mark 16:14: After Yehoshua was resur-rected, He appeared first to women and gave them the first op-portunity to report that he has risen. His disciples were rebuked later for not believing the women.

Col 2:11-12: The mark of the believer changes from a gender ex-clusive one, circumcision, to a gender inclusive one, baptism.

Acts 1:14-2:4: On Pentecost, 120 men and women had received the gift of tongues and began speaking in languages they did not know.

Luke2:36-38: the prophet Anna gives thanks to YHVH for baby Yehoshua at the temple.

Acts 21:9: Luke tells us that the evangelist Peter has four unmar-ried daughters who prophesied.

Gal 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.

Phil 4:2-3 Paul says there were two women who were at his side in the cause of the gospel. Phoebe is called a deacon/minister of the church. Diakonos in the Greek does not mean servant, but of deacon-like duties.

Rom 16:1-15: This scripture has a list of many women that were helpful to Christ and His ministry.

Ephesians 11: Yehoshua gave gifts to His people, some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The word in the Greek for people used here anthropos, which means both men and women.

Rom 16:7 Paul calls Junia an outstanding apostle. Scholars say Junia was a common female name in that day.

The scriptures in question:

1 Cor 14:34-36: women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.

This seems contrary to all the information above and, in fact, there is no law in scripture that tells women to be silent. Jewish oral law said women need be silent in synagogues and it was the influence of the Greco-Roman culture on the Jewish culture that made women second-class. Paul speaks about women prophesy-ing and praying earlier without rebuke. There is an additional mark in the Greek after these verses, indicating a refutation to what was just said. It is as if these verses were made in sarcasm. Some translations include after these verses Paul saying, "What?" As if to say, "why do you think this way??"

It is also likely that Paul was speaking only of the women in that church area who were known for corrupting YHVH's word.

It is seen from Old Testament and New Testament that women are an important part of the church in the teach-ing/leading/prophesying/deaconship/tongues and take part in all of the spiritual gifts YHVH has given.

_1 Tim 2:11-15:_ _A women should learn in quietness and full sub-mission. In that time, that was a way of saying being a good stu-dent, which was amazing since women were not taught at that time._

_I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man; she must be quiet._ The word in Greek for authority here is _au-thentein_. Research has shown this word more closely means to have the upper hand or dominate. Women often used their sexual ploys to have an upper hand with men and taught them their cor-rupted versions of the truth in some church areas. This behavior was being admonished and corrected here by Paul.

Clearly a woman with good intent, having a strong hold on YHVH's word, may teach a man who is in need of truth and may preach the word of YHVH to a congregation in need of it.
Divorce:

When looking at this matter, we need to consider everything written on divorce and look at it as a whole. Divorce is talked about in the Old and New Testament.

Old Testament

Malachi 2:16 _I hate divorce, says the Lord_.

Isaiah 50:1

Deuteronomy 21:14

1 Chronicles 8:8

Ezra 10:17

New Testament

Christ talks about it in Mark and in Matthew. Let us look at the Matthew passage first.

19:4 "At the beginning, the creator made them male and female, and said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So, they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.

The men asked Christ why Moses permitted certificates of di-vorce and Christ told them it was because their hearts were hard, but that divorce was not the intention from the beginning. He says, [19:8]: _If anyone divorces his wife, except for marital un-faithfulness, and marries another women, commits adultery._

Mark omits this last part. Christ says if anyone divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery. This word for adultery used in the New Testament is this Greek word:

www.bible.org moicaw moichao

Divorce is also talked about with regard to unbelievers being united with believers. Corinthians:

7:13 "if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.

7:15 "But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances."
Homosexuality

This is probably the single most discussed topic within the Chris-tian community and the single most debated inside the church with still a diversity of strong opinions. It is also one of the toughest issues to discuss, because everyone has such strong views and/or is dealing with this issue themselves, or knows someone who is dealing with it within the Christian community.

The **Old Testament** directly addresses this issue in **Leviticus 18:22**. 'If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.'

Some opinions have been that this law was in reference to those practicing prostitution or with children. However, it does not in-dicate children, temple worship or promiscuity in any of this. The law is stated simply and clearly.

As much as I would like the law to state otherwise, it does not. The Jews at that time condemned homosexuality then, because of this law given to them. This was in fact contrary to what Ro-mans and Greeks practiced. Men were even encouraged to en-gage in homosexual relations with their military partners to en-sure loyalty among troops, while still expected to marry and fa-ther children. But the Jewish community did not practice this and punished homosexual behavior. That shows us that the law then was understood as any man having relations sexually with any other man. Additionally children and temples and prostitu-tion are not mentioned.

However, it could be the law, because God wanted to preserve the Jewish people from sexually transmitted diseases, since blood vessels are broken and there is an exchange of blood in male to male sex. This could be the root problem of that sexual relation for that time period. Likewise, as with eating pork, the problem does not lay with the act of eating itself, rather with the possible spreading of disease. This could have been very detrimental to the population of Jews if they engaged in both eating pork and male homosexual relations.

Some say this law does not exist anymore, because we as Chris-tians live in the new law, the New Testament. However, Christ said himself **he did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill the law.** Apostle Paul tells us the law is good and holy and there for instruction. Christ was the Torah made flesh, the Word made flesh. He was not contradictory to it. Nature is contradic-tory to it. The Christian teaching that the law is abolished and void is a falsehood. The law is _good to YHVH_. But because we are human, fallen, we are not able to fulfill this law.

Therefore, Christ fulfilled it for us. _YHVH_ does not change. His character remains the same. What was good is now still good. What was sin is now still sin. Accepting Christ doesn't mean we can do whatever we want in sin. A sin is still a sin, period.

We will be held accountable for all sins that we have not repent-ed of regardless of our: guilt, sorrow, and church attendance. Let us not deceive ourselves. Some say Christ did not address this issue and so we see from that it is not a sin; however Christ does not address men having relations with animals, either. Does that mean that bestiality is no longer a sin?

Christ did not address every issue within the Torah, because he was already speaking with Jews. They already knew the law. His disciples and followers were Jews. They were following the To-rah already. What Christ was interested in was revealing to them the correct understanding of the law they were following, which was to obey law out of love for God and not out of salvation, and to be worthy, for it is only through grace we are saved. He wanted to break them from their blind following of manmade traditions, and remember the law of God.

In addition to the law of the Old Testament, the New Testament also echoes the issue of homosexuality within Timothy, Corinthi-ans, and Romans.

Corinthians/Timothy:

1 Corinthians 6:9: _'Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of YHVH. Be not deceived: neither fornica-tors (pornos), nor idolaters, nor adulterers (moicheia), nor effem-inate/male prostitutes (malakoi), nor active homosexuals (_ _Arse-nokotai_ _), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slander-ers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of YHVH._

That includes just about everybody. At one time or another, al-most all of us have been sexually active before marriage, or pros-tituted, or enjoyed pornography, or used someone for money, or coveted our neighbor, or idolized pop stars and money, cheated on our spouse, had divorce without spousal unfaithfulness (adul-tery, too), or dressed in a way contrary to our gender, or been sexually curious with the same sex, or stolen, or swindled, or be-come alcoholic, or have gossiped badly against someone.

But the scripture doesn't end there, and that is very important, because it goes on to give hope for all of us who are fallen. _'And that is what_ _some of you were_ _. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Christ and by the Spirit of our God._

We are to shed off our fallen nature and put on new garments, the garments of Christ. We are to not give power to our flesh, but to let our spirit overcome our weaknesses.

This is also important to notice, because it says that is what some of you were. This indicates a change, but a change in what, our genetic make-up? That wouldn't make sense. It seems that it is a change in our thinking and behavior.

An effeminate (a soft male of feminine qualities) can't change his genetically given physical body of soft feminine looking qual-ity. But he can change his thinking about sin and his behavior.

Corinthians 6:18 ' _All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?'_

1Timothy 1:8-11:

' _Now we know that the law is good, if anyone uses it lawfully, un-derstanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murders of fathers and murders of moth-ers, for manslayers, prostitutes (porneai), active homosexuals (_ _Arsenokoitai_ _), kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.'_

The Greek Lexion defines Arsenokoitai as a homosexual. **The word for sexual immorality used in the New Testament comes from this Greek word:** porneai www.bible.org

From the reading below, we can see why this new word Arseno-koitai was used by Paul, because there was in fact no word for the homosexual who was the in the 'active/dominant role'. A new word was needed.

<http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/social09.htm>

Many social constructionists maintain that in ancient Rome, for example, homosexuality in itself was not a problem, but that the problem (i.e. an issue given great consideration) concerned taking the 'passive' role in male–male sexual relations (i.e. being pene-trated). Thus, for example, there is no term for the active (i.e. penetrating) partner in this relationship; he is simply a man, whereas his passive partner is a catamitus. Paul uses this new word because there were no other words to describe this domi-nate role taken by male homosexuality.

The scripture seems clear, but then some argue that this term "Arsenokoitai" actually meant male prostitution, rape, married men practicing this, or promiscuous homosexuality.

Let us look at **porneai,** which is the Greek word often used in the New Testament and in other Greek writings to indicate pros-titution and unlawful sexual activity. The word meant to sell yourself or to engage in unlawful sexual activity which could include sexual relations with relatives, homosexual activity, sex with animals, fornication, adultery, sex with someone divorced, and sex in idol worship. All these activities were possible defini-tions of the word porneai.

Therefore, homosexual activity is covered in that word already, but Paul goes on to use another word, **Arsenokoitai** , to make it clearer and more specific. For adultery itself, the word **moichao is used**. And rape is a far-fetched definition of the word since there are other words used for that. Married men practicing the activity of sleeping with young men have fallen under the sin of adultery, moichao, as well as unlawful sexual relations, porneai.

No, Arsenkoitai wasn't describing prostitution, rape, or men al-ready married engaging in male sex, because those definitions were already covered earlier by Paul. This word meant something more. It was a different issue altogether.

Was it promiscuity?

What was popular at the time Paul was writing this? The Greek culture had interwoven itself into the Hebrew culture and the Hebrews accepted it. The Greeks were commonly known for their soft males who would service stronger men sexually, many married men as well. Some Hebrew men, given the Greek influ-ences, were probably practicing this as well. Paul was addressing these issues in their culture at that time.

I contacted a Greek authority on this matter when I was re-searching this. He was not a 'Christian' and did not know what I was researching, so that I could acquire an unbiased opinion of the word Arsenokoitai.

He said arsenokoitai comes from the noun arsen (male) and the verb koimai (to lie). They are those who lie with **one or more men**. Male- active- bed. Arsenokoitai is the active participant of the homosexual male relationship. Arsenokoitai is plural of arse-nokoitis which means a man who sleeps with one or more men. It is like saying homosexuals is the plural of homosexual. **No, the issue wasn't promiscuity** , since the word means a man who sleeps with **even one male sexually**.

That makes sense, given that, in Corinthians, Paul uses effemi-nate right before he uses Arsenokoitai. He is listing the soft/passive males and then right after, the active males in the homosexual activity.

Is it possible that Arsenokoitai denotes the active adult male who sleeps with a young effeminate male, a teenager, practiced domi-nantly by the Greeks and Romans, the wrong being that the partner is a teenager, too young for sexual relations?

It is possible that this type of relationship that the Greeks and Romans practiced was the problem, because the relationship was sexual at its root and not love or relational at its root.

Perhaps the sin was that the men were already married and the young male was the 'toy' and so Apostle Paul was exposing that sin as an act of sexual adultery though the partner was the same sex and not the opposite sex. Perhaps then, the point is sex with anyone else not your spouse is a sin.

Arsenokoitai is a new word that Paul uses that was not used be-fore he wrote it down in the scripture. The problem many have with this word is that it is a new word. It is not found in writers prior to the first century AD. That is why it is difficult to pin down exactly in regards to its meaning.

We do know though that early church fathers use the word in parallel with paidophthoria referring to male homosexuality with teenagers, the dominate form of male homosexuality among Greeks. Write argues that is because paidophthoria is a form of Arsenokoitai (homosexuality).

There were many words denoting homosexual behavior: homo-sexuality with teenagers (paidophthoria), with prostitutes (por-neai), as lovers (erastis), passive homosexuality (kinaidos), as ac-tive homosexuality. But Paul didn't use any of these words. What was his deliberate reason?

Why didn't Paul use erastis (homosexual lovers) or kinaidos (a passive homosexual), or _paidophthoria_ (with teenagers), if that was the issue being addressed? Perhaps because Paul wasn't sin-gling out adult males with teenage boys. Perhaps he wanted to use the broadest term of homosexuality possible and not subject the word to cultural ideas of the time.

In the Septuagint, more light is shown. We find 'you shall not lie (koiten) with a male (arsenos) as with a woman; it is an abomina-tion. (Leviticus 18:22) Paul is using the exact words in the Greek Old Testament Septuagint. Paul is trying to illustrate the Leviti-cus law again without altered cultural perceptions of words de-noting homosexuality at that time. He wanted to use a word that covered all these issues and to echo the Leviticus law.

Hellenistic Jews also wrote in clear condemnation of homosexu-ality in the Greek world.

Romans 1:24-27:

' _Therefore God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts to impuri-ty, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forev-er...Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shame-less acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error._

God is punishing these people for their worship of a creature and not God, for exchanging the truth for a lie. What is this punish-ment? It is homosexuality for these people. This is not viewed by God as blessed behavior. This is viewed as a punishment.

Genesis 3:16 Eve was told, ' _Thy desire shall be to thy husband.'_ It was YHVH that commanded woman be inclined to the man. It is YHVH also who tells man _that for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife_ , for sexual union. YHVH does not include same sex unions in this mandate.

YHVH had many opportunities to incorporate into the Bible, covering a span of 4,000 years from Adam to Christ, a relation-ship between a man and man or woman and woman as a model for future relationships of the same. He had many opportunities to bless this idea. However, the only light homosexuality is seen under in Biblical text is negative. There are no model Biblical homosexual couples to follow who YHVH blesses.

Genesis reveals that YHVH created man and woman in His im-age. It is this complementary union that serves YHVH.

We know Biblically that sex before marriage is sin. We also know from the Bible that only man and woman marriage rela-tionships were models used and, in fact, was stated in the Old Testament and by Christ that it is for this reason (sexual union and companionship) that a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to a woman. There is no same sex relationships used as models. Therefore we can see from that, same sex unions are not Biblically sound.

Corinthians 11:5 _'the head of every man is Christ, and the head of every woman is her husband.'_ Galatians 3:28, 'Wives will be sub-ject to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church.'

The wife is compared to the church. The husband is compared to Christ. It is this union that is essential; anything less than that is fallen.

Christ links proper sexuality with creation ' _that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so they are no longer two, but one._ (Matthew 19:3-7).

1 Corinthians 11:11-12.

' _Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of YHVH.'_

The fact that animals may exhibit homosexual behavior in the wild on their own shows us that we are a fallen creation, contin-ually corrupted by sin. But other animals have not been given a moral law to live by from God.

At the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon concludes, _'Fear God and keep His commandments. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or bad.'_

Lying, cheating, gossiping, drunkard behavior, stealing, promis-cuity, prostitution, pornography, divorce without spouse unfaith-fulness, and active homosexuality are all sins. Whether it is het-erosexual sin or homosexual sin, sin is a sin is a sin. Call it what it is. YHVH has not changed his mind about what is a sin. Just be-cause something has become commonplace or socially acceptable does not make it now acceptable with YHVH. He _is 'the same yesterday, today, and forever.'_ Hebrews 13:8. _'For I am the LORD, I change not.'_ Malachi 3:6.

But we are all sinners. Romans 3:23 _'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.'_ And we are to love each other and not judge each other, but instruct each other when needed in love from the Word of God.

We all have hope in the truth. We all have hope in Christ in whom we have forgiveness of our sins. 'Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, all things are become new.'
Noah's Flood

There are a few problems with the great flood of Noah's time covering the entire world. One of these problems is that the Hin-du culture and religion is dated as far back as 3,500 BC in the Indus valley. The flood in the Bible occurs with Noah at about 2,320 BC when Noah is 600 years old. This timeframe can be reached independently by adding up the generations of years from Adam to Noah or by looking at the www.abdicate.net/chronology.aspx shepherds page. The prob-lem then is that if the flood destroyed every living thing on earth except Noah's family, then the Hindu religion and culture would have been destroyed too, but they continue to exist up till pre-sent day.

Another problem with this is that **the prehistory of Egypt stretches from about 8000 BCE**. BCE and the Old Kingdom 2,650-2,134 BC. Since Noah's flood occurred in 2,320 BC, ef-fectively destroying all other life, how is it then that the Egyp-tians continued to live with their old culture and religion and physical attributes well into the time of Moses around 1,500 BC?

A third problem with this idea of a worldwide flood is that Noah would not have been able to fit all of the animals of every spe-cies at that time aboard the ark given the sizes and dimensions in the Bible. How would animals from Australia make their way to Noah's Ark and back again to Australia if all the animals of the world went aboard the Ark?

A fourth problem with the idea is that Shem, his wife, Japheth, his wife, Ham and his wife repopulate the whole earth. Each couple was sent to a different part of the world. Japheth went towards the European/Asian areas. Shem stayed in the Middle Eastern areas. Ham went to the African areas. So their children would have to mate with their siblings if all others were de-stroyed by the flood. However, all this inbreeding would cause deformity and mental incapacities within each couple's line of descendants and they would not survive well. This form of sexu-al relationship is also condemned later in the Leviticus laws given by God to Moses.

There is Biblical reason, however, to see that this flood was in fact regional or covered many regions, but not every single bit of land on earth, as many often teach in churches today.

The word for _world_ used in the Genesis text concerning the flood in Genesis chapter 7, **is not the common word in old He-brew meaning world**. It is a word that also is indicative of _land or country or region._ The same word is used later to describe a famine in all the world meaning the known world from the writ-er's perspective.

It is like describing a world war. We say it was a _world_ war, but we do not mean every country was involved. Also, the ark land-ed on Mount Ararat. If it was a flood covering the entire globe, why did the ark move so few miles from where it started?

Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions:

**Erets** (Strong's H776)

1. land, earth

a. earth

1. whole earth (as op-posed to a part)

2. earth (as opposed to heaven)

3. earth (inhabitants)

b. land

1. country, territory

2. district, region

3. tribal territory

4. piece of ground

5. land of Canaan, Isra-el

6. inhabitants of land

7. Sheol, land without return, (under) world

8. city (-state)

c. ground, surface of the earth

1. ground

2. soil

d. (in phrases)

1. people of the land

2. space or distance of country (in meas-urements of dis-tance)

3. level or plain country

4. land of the living

5. end(s) of the earth

e. (almost wholly late in usage)

1. lands, countries

a. often in contrast to Ca-naan

b.

Some Biblical support for the whole earth as being the re-gion/country:

• "Is not the whole _[kol]_ land _[erets]_ before you? Please separate from me: if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left." (Genesis 13:9) ( _The "whole land" was only the land of Canaan_ )

• And the people of all _[kol]_ the earth _[erets]_ came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth. _(Genesis 41:57) (The people from the Americas did not go to Egypt.)_

• Then God said, "Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all _[kol]_ the earth _[erets],_ nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the LORD, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you. _(Exodus 34:10) (There would be no need to add "nor among any of the nations" if "all the earth" referred to the entire planet.)_

• 'You shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall sound a horn all _[kol]_ through your land _[erets]._ _(Leviticus 25:9) (The Hebrews were not required to sound a horn throughout the entire earth)_

• 'Thus for every _[kol]_ piece _[erets]_ of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land. ( _Leviticus 25:24) (The law does not apply only to those who own the entire earth)_

• behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all _[kol]_ the ground _[erets]_ , then I will know that Thou wilt deliver Israel through me, as Thou hast spoken." _(Judges 6:37, see also 6:39-40) (kol erets could not refer to the en-tire earth, since it would not be possible for Gideon to check the entire earth)_

• And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout _[kol]_ the land _[erets],_ say-ing, "Let the Hebrews hear." _(1 Samuel 13:3) (Obviously, Saul could not have blown a trumpet loud enough to be heard throughout the entire earth)_

• For the battle there was spread over the whole _[kol]_ countryside _[erets]_ , and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. _(2 Samuel 18:8) (No, the battle did not take place over the entire earth.)_

• So when they had gone about through the whole _[kol]_ land _[erets],_ they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. (2 Samuel 24:8) (No they didn't go through the entire earth, just the lands of Palestine.)

• And all _[kol]_ the earth _[erets]_ was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. _(1 Kings 10:24) (It is unlikely that the Native Americans went to see Solomon.)_

• Then the fame of David went out into all _[kol]_ the lands _[erets]_ ; and the LORD brought the fear of him on all the nations. _(1 Chronicles 14:17) (It is unlikely that the Native Americans knew about David.)_

• And David said, "My son Solomon is young and inexpe-rienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all _[kol]_ lands _[erets]._ _(1 Chronicles 22:5) (The temple was famous to all the lands in the Middle East, but was destroyed before the advent of globalism.)_

• And they were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all _[kol]_ countries _[erets]._ ( _2 Chronicles 9:28) (It is unlikely that the Chinese brought horses to Solomon)_

I have looked up various flood stories and found a compilation at this website: <http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html>.

Mirrored from: <http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/floods.htm>.

Upon counting the various listed, there were a great number of cultures with flood stories. I counted about 278 cultures from South America, Central America, North America, Pacific Is-lands, Australia, Asia, Africa, Near East, and Europe. That is amazing, indeed. Either many cultures around the world were on the same wavelength for creative story telling, or they were all having similar experiences and ended up writing about them in their belief/religious accounts as to how and why it happened.

**Here is one from the Hindu Culture:** _Manu, the first human, found a small fish in his wash water. The fish begged protection from the larger fishes, in return for which it would save Manu. Manu kept the fish safe, transferring it to larger and larger reser-voirs as it grew, eventually taking it to the ocean. The fish warned Manu of a coming deluge and told him to build a ship. When the flood rose, the fish came, and Manu tied the craft to its horn. The fish led him to a northern mountain and told Manu to tie the ship's rope to a tree to prevent it from drifting. Manu, alone of all crea-tures, survived. He made offerings of clarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. From these, a woman arose, calling herself Manu's daughter. Whatever blessings he invoked through her were granted him. Through her, he generated this race._

Tarascan (northern Michoacan, Mexico):

When the great flood came, God built a house. Everyone tried to crowd into it; those who failed were drowned. The house floated on the waters for twenty days, striking the sky three times. When the waters receded, some of the survivors were very hungry, and although God told them not to eat anything, they started to cook tortillas inside the house. God sent down an angel to tell them not to light any fire, but the smoke was already drifting into the sky. God sent the angel again with the same message, but the people said they were hungry and continued cooking. After the message was ignored a third time, God told the angel to give those people a good kick. They became dogs and buzzards and cleaned up the earth.

_God ordered a man to build a large house and to put animals and food in it. When he had finished, it began to rain and continued raining for six months. The house floated on the flood, and all who had helped build it were saved in it. When the flood started going down, the man sent out a raven, but it stayed out to eat dead bodies. He next sent out a dove, which returned to tell what the raven was doing, and ravens have been cursed to eat carrion since. God ordered that no fires be kindled, but one man diso-beyed and was turned into a dog._ __[Horcasitas _, p. 196]_

This is the one the Cowichan tell.

In ancient times, there were so many people in the land that they lived everywhere. Soon hunting became bad and food scarce, so that the people quarreled over hunting territories. Even in those days, the people were skilled in making fine canoes and paddles from cedars, and clothing and baskets from their bark. In dreams, their wise old men could see the future, and there came a time when they all had similar bad dreams that kept coming to them over and over again. The dreams warned of a great flood. This troubled the wise men who told each other about their dreams.

They found that they all had dreamed that rain fell for such a long time, or that the river rose, causing a great flood so that all of the people were drowned. They were much afraid and called a coun-cil to hear their dreams and decide what should be done. One said that they should build a great raft by tying many canoes to-gether. Some of the people agreed, but others laughed at the old men and their dreams.

The people who believed in the dreams worked hard building the raft. It took many moons of hard work, lashing huge cedar log canoes together with strong ropes of cedar bark. When it was completed, they tied the raft with a great rope of cedar bark to the top of Mount Cowichan by passing one end of the rope through the centre of a huge stone which can still be seen there.

During the time the people were working on the raft, those who did not believe in the dreams were idle and still laughed, but they did admire the fine, solid raft when it was at last finished and floated in Cowichan Bay. Soon after the raft was ready, huge raindrops started falling, rivers overflowed, and the valleys were flooded. Although people climbed Mount Cowichan to avoid the great flood, it too was soon under water. But those who had be-lieved the dreams took food to the raft and they and their families climbed into it as the waters rose. They lived on the raft many days and could see nothing but water. Even the mountain tops had disappeared beneath the flood. The people became much afraid when their canoes began to flood and they prayed for help. Nothing happened for a long time; then the rain stopped.

The waters began to go down after a time, and finally the raft was grounded on top of Mount Cowichan. The huge stone anchor and heavy rope had held it safe. As the water gradually sank lower and lower, the people could see their lands, but their homes had all been swept away. The valleys and forests had been destroyed. The people went back to their old land and started to rebuild their homes.

After a long time the number of people increased, until once again the land was filled and the people started to quarrel again. This time, they separated into tribes and clans, all going to differ-ent places. The storytellers say this is how people spread all over the earth.

From Robin Buckallew: The strata are not a result of global flood:

The strata are most inconveniently laid out in the order of evolu-tion, from simpler to more complex. The creationist explanation for this is ecological zonation — during the Flood, creatures were buried according to the ecological zone they lived in. This, unfor-tunately, is not borne out by the fossil record, with flying mam-mals found in the same strata as swimming mammals, though they don't live in the same ecological zone. It is also notable how an animal, once it appears in the fossil strata, will continue to ap-pear in higher strata, no matter what its ecological zonation, until it disappears altogether. Plants, which appear in every ecological zone, from aquatic to mountainous, appear late in the fossil stra-ta. An alternative to this explanation is the ever-popular "the more advanced animals were able to run to higher ground, with man, as the most advanced, able to run to the tops of moun-tains." This explanation fails to take into account such things as birds, which theoretically could fly to the top of the strata to avoid the Flood waters. It also leaves the interesting question of when plants (see above) lost their ability to run.

We do know that about 10,000-15,000 years ago, the Ice Age was ending and it may have been this Ice Age ending that brought up the water levels and flooded many tribes and peo-ples, causing these stories to begin and circulate. We can con-clude, because there are so numerous stories told in different cul-tures and because an Ice Age was ending 10,000-15,000 years ago, that the tales of Floods were most likely based on real events.

However, like every story, they become filled with metaphor and symbolism and sometimes even change. Justly we can fairly say the Noah flood account is not a fairy tale or a myth. However it may be best recalled as a legend which is based on real events, but full of metaphor and symbols. The rains the Biblical text speaks of as an act of flooding may very well be true. However rains alone cannot flood a globe or even a continent.

Mathematicians and meteorologists have worked on that idea before and have found it to be impossible on its own. It is more likely that the Ice Age ending and the rains acted together. If the Ice Age took effect earlier, making most of the lands of the globe smaller than today, then later when the 'floods' were to occur the rains fell, that would explain the possibility of rain act-ing as flooding, because the land they had to flood would have been much smaller in space. Additionally it is also possible that this 'rain' was only the catalyst for the Mesopotamian area and not the entire globe. The world that they knew was Mesopota-mia.
Information from David Rohl

Egyptologist in an article by Peter Martin: The Secret Garden. 'Genetics and Genealogy' October 11th 1998.

Garden of Eden:

Northern end of Zagros Mountains into Azerbaijan Province into the Miyandoab Plain. Eastward to Eden is the smog-filled city of Tabris. This area was known as Aratta and Edin by Sumerians. The rivers Euphrates and Tigris are there (from Reginald Walk-er). Before the Islamic invasion of the 8th century, the Aras river was known as the Gaihun, or Gihon in Hebrew. Victorian dic-tionaries refer to the river as Gihon-Aras

Uizon is a corrupted Hebrew form of Pishon. Labial 'U' becomes the labial 'P' and 'z' is 'sh'.

The physical geography is a natural garden, fertile plain of 60 miles wide and 200 long. Enclosed by two mountain ranges, it is watered by the Adji Chay. Mount Sahand has a small lake on top, water rising up through a one-time volcanic chimney; a stream trickles down into the Garden.

Cush:

Cush is Kusheh Dagh, the mountain of kush.

Nod and Cain:

A village called Noqdi (from Walker), East of Eden. The village of Noqdi you indeed have to leave the Garden of Eden. 'I' means of and so a village of Noad is what this name means. The whole area beyond the Eastern exit comprises two districts, Up-per Noqd and Lower Noqd.

Nimrod:

Enmerkar in Sumerian literature is a figure 'builder king' who wanted to build a temple great and to the goddess of love and fertility named Inanna.

Kar means hunter and is added to his name. Enmer is his name. Take out the vowels since the Hebrew people don't include them and you have Nmr. Now take out the vowels to Nimrod and you have Nmrd. Nimrod is also credited for building a great temple to God. Perhaps his sin was that it was to a different God, the goddess of fertility and love?

There is a manmade mountain of god in the Ziggurat at Choga Zambil in what was ancient Elam, north of Sumer. The chief god of the Elamites was Enshushinak. 'En' is Lord 'shush' is the city of susa. Inak...Enoch? Adam's direct descendant. 'Enoch, Lord of Susa?'

Noah:

Noah's lineage spread down through the Zagros Mountains into the plains of Sumer (Sumerians). This is where descendants of Adam settled in the period following the Great Flood. Noah has three other identities: Sumerian-Ziusudra, Old Babylonia-Atrahasis, Akkadian-Utnapishtim

The Great Flood of the Bible is dated by Rohl in 3,100 BC from his book based on water–laid silt strata most notably at the Ur of the Chaldeas. In the Mayan Calendar, their flood was dated at 3,113 BC. They were exceptional date keepers. Over 200 cul-tures have flood stories from all over the world. At least 150 of them are worldwide from American Indian, to Hindu culture, Eastern areas and even Australia.

We do know 15,000-20,000 years ago the Ice Age was melting and this would have RAISED WATER LEVELS ALL OVER THE WORLD. This is not to say the flooding recorded in the Bible, the American Indian tales, the Mayan Calendar and over 200 other cultures around the world took place at this time. No, this is one catalyst. This is one factor as to 'how' these floods occurred.

These floods were most likely at different times around the globe in different places, which is why many cultures have this similar flood story. In the Biblical account, it may very well have rained for a great period of time and that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. The Ice Age does not de-tract from the tale of RAINS in Noah's account. But it does provide a more likely overall cause, that the flood was two-fold rather than one-fold. Ice Age melting would have made lands smaller all over so that there would be less to cover in 3,100 BC when Mayan tales and Biblical tales of floods occur.

Mt. Ararat. Aregats is in Turkey too far to consider. The true Ararat is in the Zagros Mountain range. The land of Kardu, or Kurdistan. The Babylonian priest Berossus, in 3rd century BC, tells of removing pieces of bitumen from a ship and taking them as talismans. Assyrian King Sennacherib worshipped a plank he recovered from the ark after 700 BC. The pilgrim saint Jacob of Nisibis apparently knew, too: it is a mountain called Judi Dagh in the Zagros. About 100 kilometers due north of town Mosul. We also know that 5th century Nestorian Christians built several mon-asteries there.

Adam: He is a metaphor for the oldest literal ancestor in memory, the first historical man: head of genealogy, a spiritual and political leader. The representative of the first settled people, former hunt gatherers who through the Neolithic revolution learned domestication of animals, and planting crops as well as began wearing clothing.

Adam and Eve represent an important marriage between two set-tled tribes. They are the founding family of civilization. This is not saying he is a metaphor. He is a memory of a literal figure; however, his story is laced with metaphor and symbols.

He is 'red earth' and in the Zagros Mountains is the reddest ochre clay. It glows red.

You can find all these characters in different ancient legends. Sumerian legends are below:

Sumerian Similarity

Enki-YHVH

Arrata/Edin-Eden

Sumer-Shem descendants

Enmerkar-Nimrod

Ninhursag (mother of the mountain)-Eve

Sumerians have a pottery piece with two trees, two characters, female and male, between them with a snake and fruit. Sumeri-ans have a tale of Ninhursag eating forbidden plants and causing Enki's ribs to hurt and so she creates a goddess Ninti to cure him. Ninti means lady of the rib and 'lady of life'.

Sumerians have a great flood story with a surviving character named Ziusudra

In Old Testament Territory:

Sumerians -3,100--2100 BC

Elamite 3000--647 BC

Akkadian 2100—1920 BC

(Abraham-Hebrew people)

The Sumerians, Elamites and Akkadians are people who shared lands with people recorded in the Bible. They shared many same territories and thus many shared stories. These characters were important to all these people and thus shared their importance. The Egyptians also have evidence of Adam and Eve and Garden of Eden stories.

An important notice is that the Genesis stories are not Hebrew stories until we arrive at Abraham. Before the appearance of Abraham, the stories of genesis are Mesopotamian stories. Many cultures of that area share these stories with various details or reasons for events changed.

The flood story is not only a Mesopotamian story, but a global story. Most cultures around the world have a flood story, be-cause most experienced one while the Ice Age was ending 10,000-12,000 years ago. This Ice Age comprised lands every-where, shrinking the amount of areas people could live on. With the addition to rains later or different weather changes, further damage and flooding would have more easily occurred. This is, of course, at various times throughout the globe, and not a one-time catastrophic event everywhere. These stories continued through people until they wrote them down.
Salvation

John 14:6 _I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me._

1 John 5:11-12: _The witness is this, that YHVH has given us eter-nal life, and this is in His son. He who has the son has the life; he who does not have the son of God does not have eternal life._

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.

1Timothy 2:3-5 _Christ is the one mediator between YHVH and man_.

John 8:24 _unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins_.

These scriptures are clear on showing that Christ is the only way to YHVH and that without Christ, you will be judged for your sins, or 'condemned' as Paul suggests.

Romans 14:22-23 _for those who have rejected Christ are con-demned already_.

But does this judgment and 'condemnation' mean hell? I believe Paul was saying they are condemned to judgment as those who accept Christ are freed from judgment. We see in John:

John 12:48: Christ is speaking:

The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has a judge; the word I have spoken will judge him at the last.

John 3:15-18 No judgment for those who believe in Christ for sal-vation.

Additionally, what about those before Christ or cultures, who have never heard of YHVH and the law? And those after Christ, who haven't been taught about him properly, or at all?

Before Christ, only the Jews were taught about sin and YHVH. Nearby cultures were not taught about YHVH and sin. The Old Testament tells us we are judged based on what we know. Therefore the Jews would be held at a different level of judg-ment than the cultures around them. The Jews were the chosen people. This does not mean they were better than anyone else or they have free salvation, but this means they were held to a dif-ferent standard, a higher standard. This means they were to carry the truth and be a light, a beacon for all to see what is true.

For others:

Acts 17:30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

This scripture indicates that idolatry and perhaps other sins of the peoples before Christ were overlooked, because they did not know any better. But after Christ, those who continue to commit idolatry will be judged for that in the afterlife.

Personally, I feel Christ will be the mediator in heaven for those who never knew him on earth, as well as for those who did. Eve-ryone will have an opportunity on earth or in heaven with Christ. We are told 'every tongue will confess that Christ is the Lord.' This word, confess, is to avow. This is of choice. Everyone will choose to acknowledge Christ in the end, whether in earth or in heaven. But this does not mean all of us will go without punish-ments for our actions or without needed atonement.

As we are taught in Jewish thought, the afterlife will consist of a period of atonement for many before they are able to be united with YHVH. I think this period of atonement may be just that for those who have not been able to accept Christ or who have not repented sins in their life.

This may very well be for those who are written in the Book of Life in Revelation (20:11), but who do not take part in the First Fruits resurrection (21:4-6). This First Resurrection is for follow-ers of Christ only and they will be able to walk with Christ 1,000 years on earth when he returns. They will be priests of God and have rewards. (Rev 22:12) 'My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.'

But the rest of the dead, the unbelievers who don't get to walk with Christ on earth, may at this point be put through a refining fire. This refining fire for those who have rejected Christ will probably be painful, as the scripture tells us there will be gnash-ing of teeth (gospels) and shame and contempt (Prophet Daniel). After this, there may be no reward standing for them. Then they will then go through an atonement process through Christ, puri-fying everything that has not been made white by the blood of the Lamb to be made Holy and Righteous before YHVH so that they may be united with YHVH.

However, those who are in the Book of Life, but are not part of the First Resurrection are put outside the city gates of the New Jerusalem and New Temple. Only the First Fruits are allowed inside the gates. (Rev 22:14). 'Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they might have the right to the tree of life and may go through the city gates. Outside (the gates) are the dogs, those who practice the magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.'

So see there will be many who are not of the First Fruits who are also not in the Lake of Fire as they will be on the outside of the gates, as scripture indicates.

(Rev 20:15) Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life are thrown into the Lake of Fire. (Rev 20:14) 'Death and Hades were thrown in to the Lake of Fire'.

The last enemy to be eliminated is death. For he has put every-thing in subjection under his feet. In I Corinthians 15:22-28, we read that death will be defeated. Additionally, according to Revelation 20:14, Death and Hades themselves are thrown into this Lake of Fire.

It seems that this Lake of Fire is the last fire. This very Lake of Fire will be eliminated. Everything that has fallen short of the glory of God, this is the last death, which is called the second death in the book of Revelation. After it, there will be no more death as 1 Corinthians says, because all those who have fallen short will be within it. This fire, as well as Death and Hades, which will be eventually burn out as fires do. and everything in it will be eliminated.

I imagine this is for those who are the epitome of evil and have no ounce of redeeming quality or Christ-like quality within them-selves. I imagine there is no hope for these kinds of people. I im-agine them to be the 'Hitler's, 'Stalin's, 'Mao's, of the world – the evil monsters as they have perverted and twisted everything that God made within themselves so much that there is nothing left of God inside them.

God wants us all:

Acts 17:26 from one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Ecc 3:11 He has also set eternity in the hearts of men

This scripture shows us that in the hearts of all men there is a feeling of something more than ourselves, something that needs to be filled with the truth of YHVH.

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart there is no God.

2 Samuel 14 like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; in-stead, he devises ways so that a banished person many not re-main estranged from him.

YHVH helps all men to see the truth, even those who say there is no God, as all will one day confess Christ. This scripture shows us that YHVH will find a way even for the estranged from him to come to Him.

For his desire is that none should perish.

1Timothy 4:9-11 'For we have put our hope in the living God who is savior to ALL men and especially to those who believe.'

Though His hand is out there for all and he opens the eyes even-tually of all to see him, we still have to choose him in response

Repentance:

2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death

This applies to all those who have not been able to accept Christ and who have accepted Christ, but who have not repented of sins in their life. Their hearts may be akin to the heart of God, but they may still have sin that needs to be cleansed (atoned) be-fore being united with YHVH.

YHVH will judge us by the Word which is like a double edged sword, seeking out our intentions, according to scripture. YHVH also says those who give mercy will be shown mercy and those who give compassion will be shown compassion. Our hearts will be judged, our intentions.

When you repent, your repentance through the mercy of God has given you forgiveness, but your atonement is reached through Christ. It is your atonement which makes you clean, pure, holy and righteous before YHVH God. So after repentance, one must still acquire atonement. This may be done on earth, I think, as well as in the afterlife.

What is repentance?

Repentance means to understand in your mind it is sin and to change your behavior. It is more than saying sorry or feeling guilty. If a Christian, after accepting Christ, remains in his/her sin, essentially living in sin, that sin has not been fully forgiven and washed away by the blood of Christ. Therefore that person will have a sin to be judged just as the unbeliever will have upon Christ's return. That person will have to go through the refining fire, judged and punished for their sins accordingly (suffer some gnashing of teeth, shame and contempt) and then go through the atonement process through Christ in the afterlife before coming to YHVH God. Perhaps then this person with unrepented sins, living in sin though a 'Christian' will also not be a part of the First Fruits Resurrection.

God's desire that is none should perish and so God will refine us all by fire, whether on earth or in heaven, and allow us all to go through a process of atonement to bring ourselves before Him.

Hell:

Most times the word Hell is translated in the Bible from the word in Hebrew to mean 'the Valley of Hammon.' This is a Val-ley in Jerusalem which many Apostic Jews sacrificed their chil-dren and is considered such a place like a grave. One time it is from the word Tardus which means a prison for fallen angels.

Our ideas of hell are probably very out of whack from its original meaning. In fact, the Valley of Hammon is like a grave, it was death. Thus hell to me would mean more of eternal death than eternal torment and suffering. It would be death, the end, the grave; it would be the second death which would, in the end, be eliminated.

What about 'Eternal Damnation?' In the Hebrew, we see in Daniel 12 'and some to everlasting shame and contempt.' We can see that some will in fact be brought to (owlam) shame and contempt. In Genesis, some are given an Owlam circumcision. This is an everlasting covenant between the faithful and God. This is echoed again with the prophet Daniel's words: some to Owlam life.

http://www.bible.org `owlam

This word 'eternity' in the New Testament is from the Greek root aeon, which is also accurately translated age or ages.

In the Greek:

Some say this 'aion' is only age. But I have difficulty with only this understanding of the word, because God will not rule only from age to age, he will rule from everlasting to everlasting. His ruling is not only from one age to another. His ruling will never end, it is eternal. But this passage brings us a new look at this idea:

1 Corinthians 52 'when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power '

So does all rule end, including His own?

No, because the next lines tell us 'For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says "everything" has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him.'

So all rule comes to an end, but not His rule, as everything is made subject under Him.

'Everlasting to everlasting' is not supposed to be looked at liter-ally, as if more eternity could come after the first. It is supposed to be read poetically, as if echoing the words: alpha and omega, beginning to end, the first and the last. If some are brought only to 'age' damnation, then that means conversely some are only brought to 'age' life. So no one receives 'eternal life'? We are all inheritors of 'age life' only? www.bible.org aionios aiwniov aionios

This source seems to indicate the word aion does mean eternal as well as ages. The idea is to read the context, as with every word that has multiple meanings, to understand which meaning is meant.

1 Corinthians 15:22-28

For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. Then 1comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be eliminated is death. For he has put every-thing in subjection under his feet. But when it says "everything" has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject-ed to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

The 'grave' which many call hell is then a place where the soul is until Christ returns. But this place is a temporary place for those until Christ returns, and then they will be judged. It is after this judgment where they then are either put forward into punish-ments and atonements or thrown into the Lake of Fire to be elim-inated.

The Day of Atonement is an important Feast and will be fulfilled by Messiah upon His returning. However, if we have received our atonement in Christ on earth here already, then who is this Day of Atonement for? This day is for those who have not yet received atonement, because they have sins on earth unrepented, or have never received the Holy Spirit and acceptance of Messi-ah into their lives. Therefore an Atonement is set aside for them to endure, which may involve gnashing of teeth as they go through contempt and shame of sins they have committed.

However, after this 'punishment,' they will come out the other end covered in the blood of the Lamb and as clean as white snow. God will have His 'all in all' as those who received Christ on earth will dwell with him on the inside Temple in the New Jerusalem on the new earth and new heavens. Those receiving this atonement late will be with God as well, but on the outside of this temple, as Revelation tells us there is an inside and out-side dwelling for those on this new earth. 'All the fornicators, sexually immoral, magic art practices, idolaters, murderers, those who love falsehoods' Rev 22:15. (Those still living in these sins not repented.)

The Lake of Fire may extinguish the soul and spirit of those una-ble to be atoned, those too vile and evil to 'save'. This is the sec-ond death. This is the end of life, non-living. Therefore, there is no more death for those left and those gone will not suffer tor-ment everlasting as is taught in churches as their soul/spirit are extinguished altogether.

In the Talmud, we learn that there are three levels to the afterlife, also.

My Summary:

There are three levels: the First Fruits are the first resurrection (level 1), then the rest of the dead, those who are in the Book of Life (level 2), and those who will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (level 3). There are three places for these levels: All will confess Christ, but not all will have Eternal Life, as some will have, as the prophet Daniel said, 'Eternal shame and contempt'. The First Fruits and those in the Book of Life will have eternal life. First Fruits are atoned on earth through their acceptance of Christ and have many rewards in heaven as well as a priesthood and life in the temple. The Book of Life group is atoned in the afterlife through the blood of Christ. They receive less rewards, some punishment of shame and contempt, and have to stay on the out-side of the city gates. The Lake of Fire sufferers will not be granted eternal life but rather eternal death. Then Death will be eliminated. There will be no more death as death burns in the Lake of Fire and is eliminated with all those inside of it whose names are not in the Book of Life. The Lake of Fire itself then burns out as a fire on earth does and all that were cast into it comes to an end, suffering eternal separation from God which is non-existing, as without God everything would cease to exist. Eternally separated from God is not eternal torture, but spiritual death – ceasing to exist at all.

Before I end this, I would like to share with you another point of view for you to consider from a friend of mine named Gary, who I have had discussions on this topic with and though I am not sure if I fully agree with him, his points are valid and worth con-sidering. His views are of an 'age damnation' of gnashing of teeth, shame and contempt for all except the First Fruits. His view is that eventually all, even the most evil, will eventually come to God and live with God.

John 12:32 _But I, when I am lifted up from this earth, will draw all men to myself._

From friend, Gary:

The wages of sin is DEATH (Rom. 6:23). Christ came to deliver us from the power of sin and death. If it were not for the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, then everyone who has ever lived and died would be forever confined to the grave. Death would be a per-manent condition. But Christ gives us hope because of the prom-ise of His resurrection FROM the dead. Scripture tells us that there are TWO resurrections.

_(Dan. 12:2; John 5:28,29)._ The way I see it, those who "choose" to follow Christ in this age will be eligible for the first fruit resur-rection. _Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation._ (John 5:28 _, 29)_

_The saints are resurrected FIRST to inherit life in the 1, 000 year kingdom: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them:_ _and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, nei-ther had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years._ " (Rev. 20:4, 5b, 6)

So what happens to the rest of humanity? _"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."_ (Rev. 20:5a) There you have it. The rest of the dead (including unbelievers, idolaters, liars, murderers, homosexuals, sorcerers, etc, etc.) WILL NOT inherit the 1,000 year kingdom. But they WILL LIVE AGAIN when the kingdom age comes to an end.

Just because they die without knowing the Savior does not mean that they will never know Him. Multitudes have lived and died without ever having heard at all. So what do you think the Reve-lation of Jesus Christ is? It is the REVEALING of Jesus Christ to the world. Once humanity meets their maker, then every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess Him. Please show me Scripture which says that everyone must confess the Lord before they die or it's too late for them. I have been asking people to prove this to me for over two years now and am still waiting...

But Jesus warned: _"Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that DOETH_ [Greek: poieo means to perform, agree, or abide] _the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)_ There are literally mil-lions of people around the world who believe on the name of Je-sus. These are the many called. The heathen (worldly folks or people who worship other gods) are not called. I know this be-cause of what Paul said: _"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: nei-ther can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Cor. 2:14)_

Worldly people will always regard spiritual things as foolishness (I'm sure you've run into a few of them yourself). Only those who believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world are called. But of the many called, only a few will be chosen. So what separates the called from the chosen? According to Jesus, it is "doing the will of the Father." And this is why I tried to emphasize the point in my last email — that His will is to save all mankind. And even though Christians do agree that God WANTS to save all mankind, most have been led to believe that this will never happen, in spite of the many passages which clearly state other-wise. Because, like you pointed out, there are many other pas-sages which speak of everlasting shame and punishment as well.

So we obviously have a problem. But is the problem with the Scriptures themselves? I think not. The problem must be in the translations, or else the Scriptures contradict. And if the Scrip-tures contradict, then there is no good reason to believe any of it.

QUESTION: How can there be "everlasting" shame and con-tempt when the Scriptures affirm that there is coming a time when all things are made new? How can there be a place of eter-nal pain and sorrow when both Isaiah and John say there will be neither pain nor sorrow (Isa. 25:6-9; Rev. 21:4)? And Isaiah af-firms that the tears are wiped away from ALL faces (v. 8). This is only one of many reasons why I believe "everlasting" should be translated as age-lasting. Yes, there will be age-lasting con-tempt for those who did not follow Christ into His kingdom. Isaiah prophesies: _"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." (66:24_ )

But when the 1,000 years are finished, Christ will also call forth these out of their graves as well (Rev. 20:5a), and they will ap-pear before the Judge at the Great White Throne and be cast into the lake of unquenchable fire. Paul explains this judgment by fire: _"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones_ [these are the good qualities that are to be refined _], wood, hay, stubble [these are the bad qualities that need to be burned up]; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the DAY_ [Judgment Day] _shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire_ [in the lake of fire]; _and the fire_ ["Our God IS a consuming fire" - Heb. 12:29] _shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: BUT HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED; yet so as by fire."_ (I Cor. 3:13-15)

So we can clearly see that the "fire" serves the very useful pur-pose of "burning up" all of the things that do not deserve to con-tinue. When God turns up the HEAT, the BLAZING LIGHT OF HIS SPIRIT AND WORD, some things begin to change! The fire is never sent to destroy the PERSON, but is for the pur-pose of purging out all that hinders and separates him from his God. It will consume all of the pride, arrogance, hostility, defi-ance, and rebellion of the flesh, and the carnal mind so that he might then be wooed and drawn by the Holy Spirit unto the Fa-ther of Spirits and live.

The prophet Malachi also spoke of this Day: _"But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a REFINER'S FIRE, and like FULLERS' SOAP: And he shall sit as a REFINER and PURIFIER of silver: and he shall PURIFY the sons of Levi, and PURGE them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in right-eousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob ARE NOT CONSUMED." (3:2-6)_

David prophesied of this Day as well _: "O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; THAT THEY MAY SEEK THY NAME, O LORD. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: THAT MEN MAY KNOW that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." (Psa. 83:13-18)_

This text also reveals the purpose for God's judgment: the carnal nature must be eliminated so men can seek His name and know that He alone is God. BTW: "Unquenchable fire" does not mean a fire that never goes out, like most Christians claim. We can prove this by examining how this phrase is used in the OT: More than 2500 years ago, the Holy Spirit warned the wicked inhabit-ants of Jerusalem that God would kindle a fire at Jerusalem's gates that would devour her palaces. _"But if you will not hearken unto Me ... then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not he quenched." (Jer. 17:27)_

Didn't God just say that this fire "shall not be quenched?" This prophecy was fulfilled a few years later and it did destroy all the houses of Jerusalem (Jer. 52:13). But since God said no person or thing would "quench" this fire, did that mean it would burn for-ever? Of course not. But since it accomplished the work it was sent to do, and since it is NOT BURNING TODAY, it obvious-ly went out by itself after accomplishing its purpose! _And when it comes to His children that He created, loves, and died for, God always purposes to bring good out of evil (Gen. 50:20)._

The rest of humanity walks the way of age-enduring (aionian) death, and as a result, their souls will perish in the Lake of Fire. But their spirits are saved (I Cor. 3:15; 5:5). First comes the natu-ral, then the spiritual (I Cor. 15).

PEACE and LOVE

Gary :)

Lake of Fire in this view is a temporary Refining Fire to take out all the bad and leave the good of the spirit, which is a painful process since there is gnashing of teeth, shame and contempt and not many rewards left to be given to those individuals. But in the end, they would be refined and afterward atoned with the Blood of the Lamb and be _'all in all'_ with God, as scriptures say. _Yet they will have no power over the first fruits- Rev 20:6._

For him, there are also three separations: The First Fruits, the Book of Life, and the Lake of Fire. However all three separa-tions will be brought back to God. The First Fruits would acquire most of the rewards, the walk with Christ, the priesthood. The Book of Life will not have as many rewards, have shame and contempt, atonement, and have to stay outside the city gates. The Lake of Fire will suffer through gnashing of teeth and shame and contempt and have no rewards, go through atonement and also have to stay outside the city gates.

Those not needing this afterlife atoning process would be the First Fruits, walk with Christ 1000 years on earth and avoid the 'gnashing of teeth' as well as acquire certain rewards. These are those that receive 'age' life, as the prophet Daniel spoke of in his view. ' _Blessed and Holy is he that takes part in the first resurrec-tion for they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with Him a thousand years.' Revelation 20:6_
Law and Love

There is a lot of controversy about whether to follow the Law of Moses or not, whether following part of it is enough or not. Be-low are some opinions and scriptures concerning this matter to clarify my views regarding the Law of Moses.

Paul is often depicted by some Christian people as one opposing the law, and his words are brushed aside by some Messianics. I have difficulty with that view, because YHVH himself used Paul as a great instrument for spreading His Word. God would not have used someone who was opposing His Word. For my-self, the entire Bible (Old and New) is inspired by God and there for us to learn from it.

Have you ever looked at the book of Isaiah? There are 66 books in the canon, and there are 66 chapters in Isaiah. There are 39 books of the Old Testament, (Not including the Apocrypha). The first 39 chapters of Isaiah deal with the nation of Israel and God's judgment on her. There are 27 books of the New Testa-ment. The last 27 chapters of Isaiah deal with the coming Messi-ah and His ministry.

After reading much of what Paul wrote, in my views, it says nothing against the Mosaic laws or of not following the laws. In fact he says they are there for instruction and that they are good, for teaching and are useful. Christ is quoted as saying, 'I DID NOT ABOLISH THE LAW, BUT FULFILL IT.' That means in Hebrew to bring it into correct interpretation and understanding.

What Paul and Christ did was to break Jewish law, Jewish tradi-tions, not God's law, not the Law given to Moses that we have in our Old Testament. Christ fulfilled this law. He never broke it as many erroneously believe today. How could the Son of God who was The Word of God break the Word of God? That makes no sense.

In speaking with various peoples of gentile Christian back-ground, it seems there is a lot of confusion about the law as well. I wanted to outline it simply for those interested in understand-ing the vital importance of this issue:

Flesh Spirit

Carnal desires God's Desire

Sin Holy

Cursed Blessed

Dead Living

Lawless Law Abiding.

It seems silly to me to think that one can be living in Spirit and yet not be following law. It is the flesh that is contrary to law, which is contrary to God. I have heard some say that following law is following your flesh. This seems a ridiculous statement to me. How can one be so confused? When we sin: lust after an-other, sleep with the same sex, or an animal for that matter, drink too much, disrespect our parents, we are in fact breaking law and this is not living in spirit, this is living in flesh. Sinning is living in the flesh. It seems many Christians today link following law with following flesh. It is the flesh which is against God. and the law is not against God. God established it so that our sin may be revealed to us and we may understand and learn. Therefore when we are following the Spirit, we are following law innate-ly...when we fall to our temptations of flesh, then we are break-ing law. Paul talks about this very issue: how there is a struggle and battle between the flesh and spirit. This is a battle between following your desire, your nature versus God's desire and God's will and God's law. It is vital to understand that the law is not an obstruction to spirit and the spirit is not an obstruction to the law. It is the flesh that is an obstruction to the spirit and to the law. This is why Paul tells us to walk in the Spirit. Then we will do naturally what God wants us to do and then innately follow God's law. The law becomes written in our hearts as the old prophet Isaiah foretold. However, when we follow law in our FLESH, and not in our Spirit, is when the law becomes a burden and a curse for us because it is something we cannot do.

Many that follow the Law of Moses are in some ways seeking righteousness through obedience to the law, but we can't achieve righteousness through the Law. We can only be made righteous through faith. Here is how scripture defines faith:

_Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen_. Paul talks in detail about the stum-bling stone in the book of Romans (that is the flesh). Romans 9:30 - 10:4 ' _What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. (_ This is a condition of the heart, not of not following law) _But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of right-eousness._ (because their heart is not responding the right way, not because they follow law)

Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone; (Because they were living in the flesh trying to obtain righteous-ness on their own.) As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stum-bling stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

But we must view this as the correct interpretation. This does not mean to throw out the law. Rather it means that we don't gain righteousness by our own power, through our own flesh. We gain it through faith, living in the Spirit, and consequently we will be following law innately.

So it is not wrong to follow law if your heart is in the right inten-tion, which is not to gain salvation or make one worthy or to be made righteous. When your heart is ready to follow it, you will naturally. Your spirit will convict you of the things you ought not do and study of the law will guide you as to what you should be doing and not be doing. It means that if we try to do spiritual things in the flesh, through trying to be made righteous, then we will fail every time. This also helps us understand why we cannot follow the law perfectly ourselves, because we do live in the flesh sometimes and thus is the reason we need a Savior.

When your heart intends to follow the Law in spirit and in faith, and you are ready in your Christian walk because of your love for God, then you grow and you become blessed by following law and that is a good thing!

This is in fact what Christ himself did, became the Living Word of God. Christ Mashiach is the Word of God which means he is the Living Torah, perfectly. He can only fulfill the law, because he is the perfect representation of it. So, it seems silly to say that following law, which is following Christ is following your flesh. You are following your flesh when you are sinning, your own desires come first and your own carnal nature is what is flesh. God, Christ and Paul were trying to tell us to live in Spirit and, therefore, the nature of law would also live in us and we would be doing it by our spirit. But it is when we live in our flesh that following this Torah becomes a burden because it does not come naturally to us. That is what Paul is speaking on in a few of his letters. As Christ says, we will be one with him as He is one with the Father. How can we be one with the Word, with Torah? By living in the Spirit. But if we are ever doing something con-trary to the law (if one studies it and learns what it says), then we know we are living by our own flesh, and that our own temp-tation has brought us to sin. This does not nullify the Torah, in essence nullifying Christ Mashaich who is the Word, the Torah. It brings it into its true light, its correct interpretation, which is one of the purposes of Mashiach's coming for us. The other, of course, is death as our penalty, since we cannot fulfill the law perfectly as we do sometimes live in our flesh and not in the Spirit.

Love sees sin worse than legalism sees sin, because love is living in the Spirit and so it is the perfect Word, the perfect law. Love seeks to restore, help, free, release the sinner from their bondag-es. Legalism seeks to condemn and bind the person to their bondage. The more like Jesus we become, the more we should desire the restoration of the broken, the freedom of the captives, the healing of the hurting.

Something that I would like to point out is that salvation can't be gained through the Law of Moses. Salvation can only be gained through faith in Hashem and Christ. But again, growth does oc-cur through following law.

Romans 10:9 _That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Some more scripture concern-ing the law:_ Galatians 2:21 _I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain_. Galatians 2:10-11 _For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that contin-ues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith_. But we have to under-stand that there are two covenants. There is the covenant of sal-vation and the covenant of circumcision. The covenant of salva-tion comes through faith. But the covenant of circumcision comes by following law. What is this covenant? We learn in Deuteronomy that it is in following law that we become happy, wise, prosperous, healthy. This law is for our GROWTH.

Let me say that again:

SALVATION comes by faith

GROWTH comes by law

There are two different covenants here.

The Jews grab for the latter and the Christians grab for the for-mer, however both are given by God!

Christ gave us two laws that were the most important, which are _to love God and to love thy neighbor_. But how does one do that? We learn what love is and how to love through the law itself. Paul tells us it is through the law we learn correction and are in-structed.

Yes, we don't seek salvation by means of the law and we are not made righteous by the way of the law. In seeking the law with that kind of heart, we will fail every time. But we are growing by following the law and we will consequently be blessed in health, spirit, and material.

When we follow Christ, our spirit will innately follow Law, be-cause Christ was the Living Word – the law! We also use the written law to guide us and make sure we are on the right path and not being misled in thinking our 'feelings' are the Spirit guiding us. People have all kinds of 'feelings'. But this does not mean it is the Spirit and we must test the Spirit against the word!

How then can we not follow the law and claim to follow Christ? That is an oxymoron. Anyone wanting to live a life closer to God and be more holy would find joy in following the law as long as their intent is in the right place, that of love for God and not seeking approval, righteousness, or salvation.

However, the problem arises when those same people judge oth-ers who do not follow the Law the way they interpret it, to be right, and seek to follow law to be made righteous, and think themselves better than others. No man can judge another man, only God can judge us. We do not know the heart or conscious or intentions of another man. Follow the law as best you can, and that would be good for you and that is not contrary to anything Paul said. His overall message is just that it is what is in the heart that is most important, and do not judge others. Because to think you will be saved by following law, you will be disappointed.

Salvation and righteousness come by the grace of God, it comes by faith. We ALL are saved by faith. We can see this also ap-plied to Abraham who lived before the law. Abraham was made righteous by his faith and grace of God, not by his ability to fol-low the Mosaic Law.

However, the Law is good and righteous and there for instruc-tion. Don't be deceived into believing that the law is void. It has not been made void, but fulfilled, which in Hebrew means to bring into correct understanding or teaching. The law was taught correctly by Christ the way it had been intended, not bound up with rules upon rules placed on the Law by the Jews in their tra-ditions, but acting in law through love, through the Spirit.

From Lisa

Another interesting thing I came across is with the usage of words around main topics of scripture, like the Law, for instance. The Bible says, "If you are under the spirit, you are not under the law." Christians have used this scripture to say that we are not under any laws, specifically the Mosaic laws, but if you examine the sentence and ask yourself, "What is the opposite of being in the Spirit?"... you would be living in the flesh.

You cannot be under the law if you are living in the Spirit be-cause you would be doing good. If you are living in the flesh, you are under the law. It has nothing to do with the law being void. It is about how you are living in accordance with the law — living in the flesh or living in the Spirit. One is bad and one is good. I am finding renewed joy and understanding in reading the scriptures from a Hebrew mindset and also learning the Greek words, specifically what the definition means, which is most often different from the English translation. I am also thankful that I have siblings who share this passion in under-standing and really knowing and searching for God's word.

_Galatians 3:13: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, "Cursed be every-one who hangs on a tree." Paul is emphasizing Deuteronomy 30:15-17. "I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But, if your hearts turn away so that you do not hear, you shall surely perish..."_ Life and good are the blessings. Death and evil are the curses. Two aspects to the Torah. There is a dual purpose for the Torah. Living in the Spirit and living in the flesh. Faith is first. Obedience is second. You have to believe in God (faith and trust) and then walk in His ways (obedience). If you turn your heart away (lack of faith) you will perish. Another way to un-derstand the 613 commandments would be to know that they are divided into "thou shall not," and "thou shall." Otherwise known as negative and positive commandments. The negative (thou shall not) shows us the sin of man (living in the flesh). The curse of the Law for the "thou shall not" was death. No man is justi-fied. If we are "not under the Law anymore" can we murder, steal, lie, or break the Torah? No...Apostle Paul says, "No." We are to have faith in God and live for Him by the blessings of the Law, "thou shall," which are the positive commandments. The law cannot be "done away with" because this would contradict the Messiah, who is the Torah. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Messiah was perfect. He lived a perfect and sinless life (positive commandments). Yeshua is the Way, the Truth, and Life.

From Ryan:

Also, something to think about: The word for "faith" in Hebrew (emunah) and in Greek (pistis) is the same word for "faithful-ness" or "steadfastness".

For example:

The word for "faith," as in Habakkuk 2:4 (c.f., Galatians 3:11) - "... _the just shall live by his_ _faith_ (emunah)" - is the same word for "steady" as in Exodus 17:12 - "... _and his hands were steady (emunah) until the going down of the sun."_ It is also the same (Greek) word for "faithfulness" as in Romans 3:3 - _"For what if some did not believe (apisteo)? Will their unbelief (apistia) make the_ _faithfulness_ _(pistis) of God without effect?"_

These words can be interchangeable because faith and faithful-ness are two sides of the same coin. Faith produces faithfulness and faithfulness is the result of faith. This is why Jacob (James) could correctly argue that Abraham was justified by his works (James 2:14-26) while Paul could correctly argue that Abraham was justified by his faith (Romans 4). Paul was coming from a pre-covenant entry perspective while Jacob was coming from a post-covenant entry perspective. That is, Paul spoke of Abra-ham's faith before the covenant of circumcision (Romans 4:9-12), while Jacob spoke of Abraham's works after the covenant of cir-cumcision (James 2:21-23). Notice that Jacob used the example of Abraham binding Isaac, which occurred after the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 21:1-19; c.f., Genesis 17), and stated that this was a fulfillment of Abraham's faith as recorded in Genesis 15:6. Paul and Jacob, in my opinion, had the same understanding about the relationship between faith and faithfulness; they just emphasized a particular side to the same coin depending on the given context. Jacob wrote to those lacking in faithfulness while Paul wrote to those lacking in faith. Thus, it seems to me that Paul and Jacob both understood that works and faithfulness is the demonstration and result of God's sovereign and gracious gift — faith, as Paul put it in Ephesians 2:8-10:

" _For grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."_

We also ought not to forget the importance of the law which teaches us, instructs and guides us to moral behavior, to what is LOVE. We cannot define what is wrong if we do not have a moral law to judge it, and we don't know what God likes and hates if we don't value or study the law.

The law is a tool, but it is not salvation. What changed with Christ is not the law, not the responsibility of it. What changed was the response to the law, to be following out of love and obedience and not out of wanting to be saved and made right-eous.

Before Christ, many Jews taught a way to earn salvation and used law as a tool to divide between the worthy and unworthy. After Christ, we are shown we are all unworthy, but God's char-acter does not change and therefore neither does the law. The curse has been lifted, but anyone willing to diligently study and follow law will be blessed, as the law also brings its blessings.

The law can be divided into 12 parts. I have outlined the parts below for you, but to study each law more intensely, you ought to look at the Old Testament yourself and you may even study from my other book: The Epi-Genome and Torah Principles.

Some people think that these laws are no longer valid, because Christ never went over them directly. However, why would he? He was speaking with Jewish people. They had already known their laws, studied their laws, and followed their laws. Christ had a three year ministry. He did not need to go over again laws that had been given in Leviticus and reiterated again in Deuter-onomy to people had already know these laws. He needed to go over the new stuff: The new priest, Messiah; The new attitude to the law; the new response to law out of love versus the old re-sponse of earning salvation.

This is what Paul goes over as well. If it is true that God's laws are no longer valid, then it would be morally fine for someone to have sex with a beast or a relative, as Christ does not directly address either of these points in the New Testament. However, it is addressed in the Old Testament in the Law of Moses given to him by God through the angels.

To sum up my views:

Salvation by faith, this is the first covenant. But then you are still a baby spiritually and growing takes learning and tools...and thus the 2nd covenant of circumcision and law....it is this that comes after to help us grow and fine-tune ourselves in the faith, but it does not provide salvation. Growth and blessings of law, this is the 2nd covenant. (As God told Moses, you would be blessed by understanding and following these things, become wise, healthy, prosper and happy and live a long life in Deuter-onomy.) As Paul says, faith without works is dead, the law is a good work. The curses have been lifted, but blessing and an un-derstanding of what Mashiach fulfilled are vital to understand-ing one's faith. As the law also brings us back to the Sabbath and to the Feasts of Israel, we learn more about God in this and more about the fulfillment of Christ, as well as learn about overcoming sin and what sin is, in fact, to God.

For those who choose not to study or follow the Torah, those many are still saved, but for those who choose to study, they will be blessed (spiritually, in health and in material) as is promised by God in Deuteronomy. Loving God and loving your neighbor are also more fully understood and complete in understanding what God has to say about loving him and others in the laws.

The 12 laws of Torah:

There are 12 categories of law (613 laws can be brought back to only 12). 4 of them don't apply today. Only 8 laws now apply: Diet, Cleanliness, Environment, Sexual, Social, Personal, Sab-baths, and Idolatry. There are many laws that fall into those 8 categories, and all provide great information on what is healthy, moral and what is not.

Personal Law, Social Law, Sabbath/Feasts Law, Idolatry/Magic Law, Environmental Law, Diet Law, Clean Law, Sexual Law, _War Laws, Courts Law, Priest/King/Nazir Law, Temple Law._

Notice the last four Law categories are non-applicable — the War law because it applied to Israel as they were establishing the promised-land and in a Torah state. The Court/Judicial law be-cause it only applies in a Torah state. The Priest/King/Nazir law because it only applies to Levite Priests, kings, and Nazir people. The Temple law because it only applies with a temple in the To-rah state and the sacrifice laws were finished in Yeshua's guilt offering sacrifice on the cross. Therefore only the first eight listed Law categories are applicable for most of us today.

From the eight applicable laws left, we can subdivide them into two groups of four. The first division is 'taking care of relation-ships' and make up of four laws: Personal law (with God/loved ones), Social law (with society), Sabbath/Feasts law (with Ye-shua), Idolatry/Magic arts law (with God).

The second division is 'taking care of creation' and make up of four laws: Environment law (earth), Diet law (body), Clean Law (body), Sexual law (body). The laws about taking care of rela-tionships seem to be the easiest for modern day Christians to ac-cept and follow and seemingly are about the moral condition in my view; however, the laws about taking care of creation are also important and usually were about health and survival. These are the four that most modern day Christians seem to neglect and feel they do not need to follow. There are some of these laws that also seem to be included simply for symbolic reasons or moral reasons.

We are to follow what Christ told us, _'To love your God with all your heart and soul and might and to love your neighbor as your-self. All the laws fall off of these two laws.'_

This is true. This does not negate these other laws, but it shows their value and relevance, because to fulfill these two laws one must fulfill these other laws. _'If you love me you will follow my commandments,'_ Christ tells us.
Part Three: The Prophecy of Revelation

The 8th Kingdom

Revelation 7:8- _the beast which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up again out of the abyss._

Revelation 17:9

" _The seven heads are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also seven kings: five have fallen; one is, and the other has not yet come, but whenever he does come, he must remain for only a brief time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth king and yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruc-tion._

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet re-ceived a kingdom, but will receive ruling authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These kings have a single intent, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful."

Revelation 17:16- _The beast and the ten horns_ (or governmental powers that side with the beast) _will hate the prostitute_ (the woman).

Summary:

The **seven heads** (hills) may be Rome because of its seven hills. However, it is more likely the seven heads represent Jerusalem and its seven hills. Jerusalem, in fact, has been called the second Rome because of its similarity in having seven hills around it.

Let us take a look at the **woman**. _The light of the lamp will never shine in you again._ Rev 18:23. _The voice of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard from you again._ Rev 18:23. _With her the kings of earth commit adultery._ Rev 17:2. _The inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated by her adulteries._ Rev 17:2

The adultery image used with her seems to indicate a marriage that once was and is now broken. Therefore, the woman must represent a group that was once married to YHVH, in a sense. That could be the Israeli nation or the Catholic Church and/or unfaithful Christians.

The Israeli nation rebel against God continually in the Old Tes-tament, and many reject the Messiah. The Catholic Church sold tickets to heaven in the 1500s for money to pay for priest concu-bine lifestyles/bigger churches. It is guilty of corrupting scripture for its purposes, silencing guilty priests and sexual victims, per-petuating the false dates of Christ's birth and crucifix-ion/resurrection, forcing priests not to marry and silencing wom-en in church, all out of Biblical context.

Let us look at other clues about this woman:

The Beast will hate this woman. Rev 17:16

The woman is the great city Babylon. Rev 17:18

The prostitute who sits on many waters. Rev 17:1

The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet. Rev 17:4

The woman will be brought to ruin by the beast. Rev 17:16

Merchants grew rich from her excessive luxuries. Rev 18:3

Many cargoes of luxury come out of her for merchants. Rev 17:12

Glittering with gold, stones, pearls. Rev 18:16

Saints, apostles, prophets, God has judged her for the way she treated you. Rev 18:20

With her the kings of earth commit adultery. Rev 17:2

The inhabitants of earth intoxicated by her adulteries. Rev 17:2

The light of the lamp will never shine in you again. Rev 18:23

The voice of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard from you again. Rev 18:23

Come out of her, my people. Rev. 18:4

The woman sits on seven hills. Rev 17:9

The woman also sits on the beast with seven hills (heads). Rev17:3

The beast has seven heads (hills) Rev 17:3

The seven hills are also seven kings. Rev 17:10

The Seven kingdoms that ruled over Israel:

1) EYGPT (1550-1200 BCE) Moses & 400 years of affliction.

2) ASSYRIA (722–586 BCE)

3) NEO-BABYLONIA (586–539 BCE)

4) Persian Period (539-333 BCE)

5) GREEKS (333–165 BCE) 5 5 have fallen

6) ROMANS (63 BCE-330 CE) one is

7) BYZANTINES (330–638 CE) the 7th exists a short time

Rome had many more rulers, Emperors, than seven. From 27BC to 310AD, there were about 39 Emperors, the first being Augus-tus at the time of Christ's birth. Tiberius from 14-37AD was at the time of Christ's death. The Emperor Constantine in 306-337AD was the first Christian Roman Emperor who effectively gave power to the Catholic Church and its practices, which var-ied from original Christianity. He fused pagan beliefs into Chris-tian practices, uniting the birth of their sun god with the birth of Christ, yielding an erroneous December 25th birthday for our Sav-ior, in addition to many non-Biblical practices that are still popu-lar today in the Catholic Church.

The original church after Christ led by 12 apostles. 12 bishops represented them overseeing the church. But soon, when Rome took power, the only Bishop that mattered was the Bishop of Rome and his opinions. Much of what is idolatry in the Catholic Church came from this union of paganism with Christian beliefs at that time.

**Only Israel had seven kingdoms over it and is now in the eighth kingdom.** Additionally, the beast overcomes Israel, and erects himself in Jerusalem in the temple. (See Daniel under the beast). Since the Beast sits on the seven hills, and we know he will also be sitting in Jerusalem in the temple, **the seven hills are Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the seven hills.**

If Israel is the woman, Israel can be seen as sitting on Jerusalem, the seven hills, literally. Israel is then sitting on the beast who is sitting on Jerusalem, the holy city. This makes sense given that the beast will make an agreement with Israel (read further on the beast), and that the beast will hate the woman, or Israel.

It also makes sense that this woman is the Roman Catholic Church. She is sitting on the beast who is sitting on Jerusalem, the city with seven hills. This makes sense, given the oppression of the Catholic Church over the Jews who represent carrying YHVH's truth. It is, in essence, oppression or repression of the truth.

But then why would the beast hate the Roman Catholic Church for doing this?

We can see the harm of the Roman Catholic Church in History: the crusades caused many Jewish deaths, seizing the Holy land given to the Jewish people by YHVH; the repression of the Jew-ish truth about the name of Christ, the birth and death of Christ; the Old Testament and New Testament teachings that have been distorted such as: silencing women in church, not allowing preachers of God 'Priests' to marry, Adam and Eve being the only first man and woman (which the text does not read), Mary being sinless before Christ's birth, the must Baptisms of babies to prevent hell, the selling of heaven in the 1500s for money to pay for their lavish living and concubines, their disregard for the Sat-urday Sabbath, and idolatry of praying to/worshipping of saints and Mary.

**Come out of her, my people**. Rev. 18:4. This passage is striking. This shows us that God's people are a part of this woman. But then, that still could mean the Jews who will come to the Messi-ah versus the corrupt Israel, or the true Christians out of the cor-rupt Catholic Church teachings.

Now considering Israel or the Roman Catholic Church as the woman, let us look back at the imagery and see who fits:

Israel Rome

Purple, scarlet colors---------- yes

Luxuries------------------------- yes yes

Gold, stones--------------------- yes yes

On many waters---------------- yes yes

Merchants and cargoes-------- yes yes

It makes most sense to me that the woman is the people of Israel, but I can see why some would also think it would be the Catho-lic Church.

The 8th kingdom is one of the seven.

*8) ISLAM/ARABS

(Arab Caliphate Period 638–1099 CE)

(Abbasid Period 750–1099 CE)

(Ayyubid Period 1187–1244 CE)

(Mamluk Period 1244–1517 CE)

(Ottoman Period 1517-1917 CE)

Is the 8th the Islam/Arab world? Does the Arab/Islam world have roots in one of the previous seven Kingdoms? The scripture says this 8th kingdom was one of the 7 in the past.

Based on the Torah, Bible, and Qur'an, the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula are the descendants of Shem, son of Noah. Other Ar-abs are known as Arabized-Arabs, including those who came from some parts of Mesopotamia, the Levant, lands of the Ber-bers and the Moors, Egypt, the Sudan, and other African Ar-abs.[7]

Could the Arabs of Egypt be the link to the Arabs Kingdom in-terpreted in Revelation?

Adnanites": it is defined of the Arabs who settled in Mecca when Abraham took his Egyptian wife Hagar or (Hajar) and his son Ishmael to Mecca. Ishmael was raised by his mother Hagar and the noble Arab tribe "Jurhom" who left from Yemen and settled in Mecca after the drought in Yemen at that time. It is believed that the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad, is descended from the Adnanite Arab tribe which is "Qureish. So Mohammed the prophet and starter of ISLAM is of direct Egyptian descent from his mother's line- Hagar.

Could it be the Kingdom (Egypt) that began this rule over Israel from the first is the link to the last Kingdom to do so? Could the link be with the Persian Empire? Revelation 7:8- _the beast which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up again out of the abyss._

Revelation 17:9 The beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth king and yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruc-tion. One of these heads appears dead by a fatal wound, but it is healed. Revelation 13:3. The kingdom of Arab/Islam's power dies and comes alive again to rule over ISRAEL.
The Beast

The beast represents the power of Satan manifested in a man from a certain line who will lead over the world's countries and overthrow Israel. Ten other kingdoms will join him. But he is de-ceitful and, though comes in peace, he fools the Jews to make peace with him in order to overthrow them.

Daniel 8:24 shall destroy the holy people

Daniel 8:25 through peace destroys many

Daniel 11:21 he will invade when people feel secure, seize with intrigue

Daniel 11:21 will come in peacefully

Daniel 11:23 after Israel comes to an agreement with him acts deceitfully.

Daniel 66:11 defiles Jerusalem.

Daniel 76 will establish his capitol in Jerusalem

In the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel, we learn that the one who sets up the abomination of desolation in the temple is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, which descendants can be traced to cover the lands of Turkey and Scandinavia. Magog lands cover over near that area too.

This new ruler who brings a new god and demands worship of himself as god may emerge from Islamic/Arab background from Turkey or Scandinavia.

EZEKIEL 38

The word of the Lord came to me: 38:2 "Son of man, turn toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tu-bal. Prophesy against him 38:3 and say: 'This is what the sover-eign Lord says: Look, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 38:4 I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them fully armed, a great company with shields of different types, all of them armed with swords. 38:5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Put are with them, all of them with shields and helmets. 38:6 On that day, when Gog invades the land of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. 38:19 In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

(There is also a great earthquake in Revelation mentioned in the end times).

On that day I will assign Gog a grave in Israel. It will be the val-ley of those who travel east of the sea; it will block the way of the travelers. There they will bury Gog and all his horde; they will call it the valley of Hamon-Gog. 7 39:12 For seven months Israel will bury them, in order to cleanse the land. A city by the name of Hamonah 14 will also be there.) They will cleanse the land.'

DANIEL 11:

"Then there will arise in his place a despicable person to whom the royal honor has not been rightfully conferred. He will come on the scene in a time of prosperity and will seize the kingdom through deceit. 11:22 Armies will be suddenly swept away in defeat before him; both they and a covenant leader will be de-stroyed. 11:23 After entering into an alliance with him, he will behave treacherously; he will ascend to power with only a small force.11:24 In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province, he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long. 11:25 He will rouse his strength and enthusiasm against the king of the south with a large army. The king of the south will wage war with a large and very powerful army, but he will not be able to prevail because of the plans devised against him. 11:26 Those who share the king's fine food will attempt to destroy him, and his army will be swept away; many will be killed in battle. 11:27 These two kings, their minds filled with evil intentions, will trade lies with one another at the same table. But it will not succeed, for there is still an end at the appointed time

He will have control over the hidden stores of gold and silver, as well as all the treasures of Egypt. Libyans and Ethiopians will submit to him.
The Elders of Revelation and the Lamb

_This part is not written by me; however, but by a friend named Mike. He has interesting perspectives on this topic and thought to include his ideas in my work here._

In describing what heaven looked like, it seems that he was taken into a view of heaven right before the death of Ye-hoshua. First, let us look at what John is describing. The first thing that he saw was the throne, and the one that sat upon it. Round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

It was John writing what he saw. When he saw the elders, he only recognized them as elders. John, at the time of this writing, was somewhere around 90 years old. A lot of people believe the rapture had taken place at this point and that these elders are the disciples and apostles of the early church. If that were the case, wouldn't John have recognized them and called them brothers? Wouldn't he have recognized himself as being one of them? He looked at each of them, knowing they had crowns on their heads. If they are not the disciples and apostles, who could they be? John gives us another clue in these verses:

Rev 4:10 _The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne_ , saying,

Rev 4:11 _Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created._

Here we find that the elders are praising God for creation, _"Thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were creat-ed."_ Creation was their only worship, it was being redeemed or saved — it was creation. This is all that God had done for these elders, created them. It wasn't that he stopped with them. They said in that praise, that for his pleasure they are and were creat-ed. In their minds, God was still creating.

So this is the question: What group of people only had creation to praise God? Let's go back to the Old Testament and follow the lineage from Adam to Jacob. Why stop at Jacob? Jacob's sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. From that point on, God had his chosen people and we know that the tribes of Israel are where he begins His blessings and the laying down of the laws. So let's look at this lineage:

1. Adam 2. Seth 3. Enos 4. Cainan 5. Mahalalel 6. Jared 7. Enoch 8. Methuselah

9. Lamech 10. Noah 11. Shem 12. Arphaxad 13. Salah 14. Eber 15. Peleg 16. Reu

17. Serug 18. Nahor 19. Terah 20. Abraham 21. Isaac 22. Ja-cob

If you notice, we are two elders short of the twenty four. That's because there are two more individuals who must have their place on these seats as elders. The elders are from every people, nations and tongues. Before Seth, Abel was the chosen line be-fore Cain murdered him. Also, along with Noah and Shem, there was Japheth, who were blessed of God and told to multiply the earth. Cain and Ham were also told to multiply the earth, but both of them had their seed cursed. All of the elders are the fa-thers of the peoples, nations and tongues. The other two elders:

23. Abel 24. Japheth

Gen 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations di-vided in the earth after the flood.

Now let's move onto what happens next in Revelation:

Rev 5:1 _And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals._ [Rev 5:2] _And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book, and to lose the seals there-of?_ [Rev 5:3] _And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon._ [Rev 5:4] _And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon._ [Rev 5:5 _] And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to lose the seven seals thereof._ [Rev 5:6] _And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth._ [Rev 5:7] _And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne._

Here he sees this book with seven seals, when the question was asked, who could open the book and loose the seven seals, no man in heaven or in the earth was found worthy to open it. Something about this book not being able to be open, or the fact no one was found worthy bothered John. He begins to weep much. But one of the elders told him not to weep, that the _Lion of the Tribe of Ju'da, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to lose the seven seals thereof._ _In the midst of the throne, the four beasts and the twenty-four elders stood a lamb as it had been slain._ Who was this? Yehoshua is the only one ever called a lamb. So let's pause this scene for a moment and see where this lamb came from.

After Jesus was crucified and put in the tomb, we know that during these three days and nights, he went into death, the grave, and took the keys from death, the grave. After he rose again, the first person he encountered was Mary:

John 20:15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, 'Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.' [16] Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. [17] Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Mary was told not to touch him because he had not yet ascended to the Father (heaven). Later that same day, he showed himself to some of the disciples. Thomas wasn't with them. When they told Thomas, he replied that he would not believe it until he touched his wounds. Then after eight days, Jesus appeared to them again:

John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace, be unto you. [27] Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. [28] And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

What had happened during those eight days? Mary was told not to touch him, but here Thomas was being told to touch him. He had told Mary that he had to ascend to the Father (heaven), but now Thomas was free to touch him. It was during these eight days that this scene in Revelation takes place, the Lamb that had been slain came up in the midst of the throne. Note here, there is only one throne that John saw, the Lamb, which is Yehoshua, comes up in the midst of the throne and takes his place.

Rev 5:7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. [8] And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down be-fore the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. [9] And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and peo-ple, and nation;

The same elders that had been praising God for creation are now singing a new song of praise, one of redemption, for thou was slain and redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation.

We know that Yehoshua's blood saves us, but here we see that his blood went all the way back to Adam. If this was the group from Adam to Abraham, they would be the representatives of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation.

Another point that I would like to make is that each of the elders had golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. Could it be that each of us are traced back to one of these elders, and he is the one who is holding the golden vial full of our prayers? Could it be that our prayers are being stored in these vials by our ancestors? Remember, these vials play a part in heaven.

At this point, the Lamb has taken the book, and is upon his throne.

Rev 5:11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou-sands of thousands; [12] Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. [13] And eve-ry creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. [14] And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ev-er.

We find that there is praise in heaven, from the beast to the el-ders, to the thousands and thousands and the tens of thousands of angels. I believe that this is still going on today. The elders are still giving praise for redemption. We are told that every time a soul repents, the angels rejoice. This is still going on. If you look at the context between the Lamb taking the book, before he be-gins to open it and the seals, you will find no timeline. There is no certain amount of time mentioned of how long this praise goes on before he starts to open the seals. People are still being added today and the praise goes on even now. But as far as the times, this has to be revealed to us. John gives no indication of why or when the first seal is opened.
The Messiah's 2nd Coming

Isaiah 11:11 tells us that _'in that day, the Lord will reach out His arm a second time to reclaim the remnant.'_ When will this sec-ond arm be revealed? According to the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a, R. Kattina said: "Six thousand years shall the world exist, and one [thousand, the seventh], it shall be deso-late..."

2,000 years is mentioned in the Talmud, paraphrased with inter-pretation by some as 3 periods: 'The Period of Confusion, The Period of Law, The Period of the Messiah'.

Sanh 97a

The Tanna debe Eliyyahu teaches: The world is to exist six thou-sand years. In the first two thousand, there was desolation; 37 two thousand years, the Torah flourished; 38 and the next two thousand years is the Messianic era.

" _For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by"_ (to God) - Psalms 90:4. And in 2 Peter 3:8 - _with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day._ This can be seen as a general statement, showing the rela-tivity of time. But more importantly, it can be seen as the way time is calculated in the 'generations of men'.

We know that 1,000 years to man is like 1 day to God, because Psalms 90:4 and 2 Timothy supports '1,000 years to you is like 1 day to God.' Therefore, the ancient Rabbis took the 6 days of creation and multiplied them by 1,000, yielding 6,000 years of (spiritual man). The 7th day, or next 1,000 years would be the Sabbath.

We start counting spiritual man with Adam, "The first man, Ad-am, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." In 1 Corinthians 15:22, it states, " _For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ (the Messiah) all shall be made alive."_ Adam was the first 'man' as defined by and said by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. If one sees this, one can calculate the time from Adam adding 6,000 years to give us an ending date for the return of our Messiah. The question becomes at what point does the clock start ticking with Adam? Is it Adam as a baby born or as a young man or as an older man? The text is not clear on how old Adam was when he began communing with God: We do know that at age 13, boys are bar mitzvah and that Abraham and Moses were older men of 40+ when they heard God's call. So these times can be used as reference points.

Adam as a baby born is 3977BC (a baby.)

Adam being Bar mitzvahed 3964BC (13 years old boy).

Adam as a young man is 3957BC (20 years old man).

Adam as an older man is 3937BC (40 years older man).

**Notice:** In the Hebrew calendar, there is a 200 year discrepancy with the Biblical timeline. In 3760bc, the Hebrew calendar be-gins at 1; however Adam is already 217 years old in 3760bc. I am not sure why the Hebrew calendar begins time at this point, but it does put the Hebrew calendar off with the Biblical calen-dar for about 200 years. One reason may be because during the time there are two hundred years in the Jewish calendar that are lost between the period of Esra and Nehemiah and the first Jew-ish tradition and literature that resurrects during the Hellenistic period.

These two hundred years are lost in the Jewish calendar; nobody knows much about them. What happened with the Jews in the land? There is no record of it and no Rabbinical tradition about it. This 200 years, a kind of dark ages in Jewish history, are add-ed to the calendar, which would mean that today we are in 5757 on the Jewish calendar, but really we are in 5957, close to the end of 6000 years. The Biblical calendar is simply done by add-ing up all the generations from Christ backward till Adam, grant-ing there are no missing genealogies (which I do not hold that there are) the genealogy in the Biblical timeline takes us to 3976bc for the arrival of Adam.

However, notice that this 'spiritual time' for Adam could have been at various ages of 13 when boys traditionally are bar mitz-vah, or it could be later than 20 as a young man, or 50 when it is usual for older men to become more acquainted with God, such as with Abraham and Moses. This Spiritual gage is really an es-timation to be considered.

It is interesting to see that these ideas not only can be reached through the interpretations of Genesis and the Babylonian Tal-mud, but these ideas can also be seen through a paper of Sir Isaac Newton's where he predicts the world will end around 2060. While he reaches this conclusion based on the interpreta-tions of Daniel, my conclusions are based from Genesis. Given two different books, we can arrive at two similar times for the second coming of Christ.

Considering these ideas, let us look at scripture and see if we can find a timeline to help us with the second coming of Christ:

From Scripture, we know Adam was 130 when Seth was born. Also, we can place Seth's birth at 3847 BC from the Biblical ac-counts. That places Adam's birth at 3977 BC. You can view these times independently from the www.abdicate.net/chronology.aspx

We can rule out Adam as a baby communing with God as a pos-sibility, since babies don't talk and listen. When Adam is com-muning with God in the Garden of Eden, the Bible changes its Hebrew from the general term for man to the more specified Ad-am man in the text. This is when we are now looking into the life of Adam. This is when Adam is a 'spiritual' being connected to God. We do not know much of anything about his life before that time, if he was even born as a baby. When Adam was of the age of being bar mitzvah (13), he would then become responsible for his actions, and the sins he committed would be held against him. This is eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as he now knows good from evil.

1) Calculating the time of the bar mitzvah, Adam would be 13 and the year would be 3964 BC. From 3964 BC to the time of Abraham's call in 1954 BC, we have 2010 years. From Abra-ham's call to Christ's ministry in 27 AD we have 1981 years. From 3964 BC and adding 6,000 years we have 2036 AD as the ending point. From 27AD to 2036AD we have 2009 years.

2010 + 1981 + 2009 = 6,000 years or 6 days!

2) Calculating the time of Adam as a young man of 20 years of age, we get the year of 3957 BC as the starting point. Adding 2,000 years brings us to the time Abraham is called by God in 1954 BC, leaves Haran and Lot and sacrifices begin as atone-ment, as well as a 400 years of affliction (Exodus 12:40-41) there are 2003 years.

From the time of Abraham's call from God in 1954 BC to the time of Christ's ministry in 27 AD (from 3 BC birth plus 30 years) there are 1981 years.

Adding 6,000 years from 3957 (Adam's birth) yields 2043. From Christ's ministry in 27 AD to 2043 is 2016yrs.

2003 + 1981 + 2016 = 6,000years OR 6 DAYS!

It makes Biblical sense that time on earth will end after 6,000 spiritual earth years have passed since the time of 'Spiritual Ad-am.' The 7th day to God would be the Sabbath or the second coming of the Messiah. This leaves 1,000 years of reign for Christ on earth, which is talked about in the book of Revelation.

After this 1,000 year reign, there would be a complete 7,000 year cycle on earth for the 'spiritual man' in earth's time. However, in God's time based on Psalm scripture, that would be exactly 7 full days. Then God establishes His kingdom as Revelation ex-plains, a temple from heaven will come down to Jerusalem to be the new, final temple to hold God's people.

3) But what if we start counting at Adam's age as an older man of about 40 years. The year is now 3937 BC. If we take this to Abraham's call to God we reach 1954 BC, we get 1983 years of passing. From Abraham's call, we go to Christ's ministry and reach 27AD and we have 1981 years passing.

If we add 6,000 years from 3937BC, we reach the year 2063AD. 27AD to 2063 is 2034 years that pass.

1,983 yrs + 1981 ys + 2034yrs = 6,000yrs OR 6 DAYS

**2036( age 13) and 2043(age 20) and 2063(age 40) are timeframes to highlight**

However, the Talmud warns us not to set our hopes on dates, as we may find we are disappointed. The Messiah's second coming will come when the Divine Time is right. But though the New Testament tells us we will not know the day or hour, it does say we can know the season and the times...we can make an estima-tion as to when the likely time will be for our Messiah. We live in a time that is both wicked and righteous. There has never been such lewdness and rejection of a higher power than in these times, and yet there are righteous people coming to God. The Messianic movement has blossomed in this decade, increasing to 100,000 people in America alone. Israel's eyes are being opened and the time of the gentiles is fulfilling. Soon the temple will be rebuilt.

We can also know that a trumpet call raises the believers to the sky, as in the gospel of Matthew. This trumpet makes sense in the month of Rosh Hashana, when the ram's horn trumpet sounds to start the beginning of a new year! Rosh Hashana is also the traditional birth date of Adam. Would it be such coinci-dence that Messiah (the second Adam) comes on such a day?

All this information means we (the generations of men) are in the 6th day, approaching the 7th day of generations in about 30-50 years. One may interpret this to mean that the generations will come to an end around the end of day 6, or in the years ranging from 2036-2063. Perhaps then the time of Yehoshua the Messiah is at hand.
Upon further study:

From Cohen

Ancient and medieval Kabbalists, such as Nehunya ben HaKa-nah, in Sefer HaTemunah (written about 100 AD) and Rabbi Isaac of Acco, understood these seven thousand years are a run-ning parallel to the Jewish Sabbatical cycle. In this cycle, the fields are planted and harvested for six years and left unplanted in the seventh year. 2 Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, who, apart from be-ing a rabbi, also held a master's degree in physics, cites the calcu-lations of Rabbi Isaac of Acco in his commentaries on the book Sefer Yehzirah: The Book of Creation. This book has an oral tra-dition going back to Abraham, but was first committed to writ-ing about 1500 years ago. In his commentary on this book Rabbi Kaplan writes:

"According to the master Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac of Acco, when counting the years of these cycles, one must not use an ordinary physical year, but rather, a divine year. The Midrash says that each divine day is a thousand years, basing this on the verse, "A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday" (Psalm 90:4). Since each year contains 364 ¼ days, a divine year would be 365, 250 years long.

According to this, each cycle of seven thousand divine years would consist of 2,556,750,000 earthly years. This figure of two-and-a-half billion years is very close to the scientific estimate as to the length of time that life has existed on earth. If we assume that the seventh cycle began with the Biblical account of crea-tion, then this would have occurred when the universe was 15,340,500,000 years old. This is very close to the scientific es-timate that the expansion of the universe began some fifteen bil-lion years ago" (Kaplan 186). That a thirteenth century rabbi could have so accurately calculated the age of the universe, using only the Scriptures and Jewish traditions, is astounding. It would take science nearly seven hundred more years to arrive at this same figure.
Christianity and Sensibility

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