a 40 minute video with over 150 slides explaining from Scripture how Elohim uses the sky to communicate with Creation — and the coming Jewish Tetrad of four lunar eclipses which begins April 15, 2014.

There will be a Blood Moon over your Montana house next Passover, April 15, Tues. at 1:47 am

Joel 2:31 ESV – The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

The fact that Christians do not know when Passover and the other Jewish feasts transpire each year is a problem going back to Emperor Constantine in the 300’s. That ignorance will have a COST to many. God has always communicated with Humanity through the clockwork He established in the stars, Sun, and Moon.  He never changes.  (click on the hyperlinks to have this clearly revealed from the original language)

Gen 1:14 ESV – And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years . . . “

I have spent the last several weeks verifying the information about these coming signs in the sky, primarily using the NASA website and several Hebrew calendars and date calculators.  Although at first I was skeptical, I am now convinced of the veracity and importance of this information. Here is a LINK to download a presentation on GoogleDrive, the free cyber-storage service.

Messiah is Coming.

Jewish “tetrads” (tetradia) began in 32 AD – the year that Messiah became the Passover Lamb of God for us to set us free from bondage to Sin.  A “Jewish tetrad” is when four lunar eclipses occur on two Passovers in a row (exactly) and two Feasts of Tabernacles in a row (exactly).  There have been eight in the past — each one connected to a major world event such as Israel becoming a nation, the Spanish Inquisition, Jerusalem being retaken by Israel, etc. – starting with the Crucifixion.

Check out the website  http://redmoonrapture.com/ and verify the information there for yourself.

Use NASA.gov links below:

The NASA site is http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE2001-2100.html — this page has the link which gives schematics of the eclipses, such as this:

Passover 2014 eclipse

Also see: http://www.shirhadash.org/calendar/hcal.html  and

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~dan/hebcal.htm from UC Irvine.

Remember Lot’s wife!

Disentangle your heart from the things of this World!  When you hear that upward call, say “YES!” without reservation.  Although she was effectually “saved” from destruction, she became transfixed as SALT — something Believers are called to be in this Age.  Don’t get stuck here in the coming Tribulation just because you care for this ruined World too much. Remember the words of Yeshua ben Yossef — He will return as Yeshua ben David:

 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, (v26)people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (v27) And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (v28)  Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” — Luke 21:25-28 ESV

Maranatha!  Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

http://youtu.be/lE-mVpCOjCM

a sermon regarding my near-death experience from the H1N1 virus this past Winter.  a study of God’s right to discipline His children as He sees fit.

Tish’a B’Av

The 9th of Av is the date on the Hebrew calendar that portends serious trouble for the Chosen. This year, that date falls on August 4th to 5th — a day preceded by fasting and prayer for 3 weeks — asking the Lord to not allow Israel to suffer another terrible setback as has happened before.

From www.RedMoonRapture.com, a list of events which have racked the Jews in the past – all on Tish’a B’Av:

1313 BC – The 12 spies Moses sent into the Promised Land returned with a bad report, causing the Nation of Israel to wander in the desert for 40 years.

 586 BC – The First Temple built by King Solomon was destroyed. Israel was led into the Babylonian exile by Nebuchadnezzar.

70 AD – The 2nd Temple built by Ezra and Nehemiah was destroyed by the Romans on the 4th of August, 70 AD

  132 AD – The Romans crushed Bar Kokhba’s revolt and destroyed the city of Betar, killing over 100,000 Jews on July 8, 132 CE

133 AD – Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Roman commander Turnus Rufus plowed the site of the Temple and the surrounding area in 133 CE

1096 AD – The First Crusade officially commenced on August 15, killing 1.2 million Jews in France and Germany.

1290 AD – The Jews were expelled from England on July 25, 1290.

1306 AD – The Jews were expelled from France on July 21, 1306.

1492 AD – The Jews were expelled from Spain on July 31, 1492 and the Spanish Inquisition began.

1914 AD – World War I begins on the 1st of August with Germany declaring war on Russia.

1941 AD – SS commander Heinrich Himmler formally received approval from the Nazi Party for “The Final Solution”. 50% of all Jews on earth were killed.

1942 AD – Deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to the Treblinka death camp begins.

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This list of events, all of which transpired on the same date of the Hebrew calendar, is a strong indication that the King of the Universe is in control.  I do not expect Israel to have any setbacks in 2014 as the imminent War of Psalm 83 will result in a huge win for Israel with the virtual annihilation of  their immediate Muslim neighbors.  I expect that war to be preceded by the Rapture, considering verse 3 of that Psalm with reference to “thy hidden treasured ones””.  Is there anything that could encourage Muslims everywhere to attack Israel more than the instantaneous global absence of all true Christians?  From that point to the end of the Age, Israel will have to fend for herself.

Nevertheless, I encourage the people of God everywhere to fast in the week prior to Aug. 4th and ask the Lord’s mercy be extended to Israel this year. Even a limited fast of just veggies without usual merriment and with prayers for the peace of Jerusalem will move the heart of our kind and caring Savior.

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For the Jewish perspective on Tish’a B’Av, see these links:

Judaism 101

Chabad.org

Here is the fare we offered, my wife and I cooking together:

I invited my favorite Jewish man and his wife for supper on Monday night.  They are Messianic believers in Yeshua (Jesus); it is appropriate that a gentile like myself make a way to express love for Jews:  they are a nearer kinsman to Messiah and they have suffered such loss.

First course:  baked falafel balls and Tzatziki sauce

2nd:  matzoh ball soup in chicken stock with carrots, celery, and onion

3rd:  baked orange roughy fish in panko with dill sauce

4th:  vinaigrette salad with candied walnuts, feta, and dried cherries

entrée:  seared and braised beef brisket (soured in salted vinegar)

.             sautéed cremini mushrooms in cumin

.            potato kugel

.            au jus

.            fresh multigrain rolls

lemon gelato palate cleanser

dessert:  lemon cake with pecans – coffee

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The market was out of fresh asparagus to go with the entrée.  EVERYTHING turned out well and we had blessed fellowship.

————————————–

I always check the Joy of Cooking book to make sure I set the table properly; here’s an alternative source.

We have 8 PyreDoodle pups in the house. See pyredoodles.com

The mom is Great Pyrenees and dad is a St. Poodle, born on July 1. Mom has them in a kiddy pool (dry) now so they don’t get misplaced.

All but 1 female is allocated – they are going to TX, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and here in MT.

Blessings!

Hi,
Here are some recent pics of Ozzy . . . . He is really hard to capture a good pic from unless he is sleeping. He is doing really well, such a good boy and a very good watch dog. We love him!
Kristi

The sneak attack on Jewish tribe of Bani Mustaliq was a smashing success. Jihadis managed to kill many sleeping kuffars and grab abundant booty which included enslaved men, women and cattle. The immense booty was distributed among the jihadis after the prophet took his cut of 20 %.

Bukhari 3:46:717:

Prophet had suddenly attacked Bani Mustaliq without warning while they were heedless and their cattle were being watered at the places of water. Their men were killed and their women and children were taken as captives.

The muslim camp at night was buzzing with activities… Most men were having fun with their enslaved women and some with enslaved men (many men are bisexual in harsh desert male dominated society)… Some who only got cattle as booty were experimenting with their animals… Prophet was also busy with his share of slave girls in his large tent. Aisha shared the tent with the prophet and his slave girls from the raid…There were several men outside the prophet’s tent waiting for advise on their personal problems.

Prophet came out for Isha (evening) prayer and talked with the waiting jihadis.

Prophet: What is your problem Abu Zar?

Abu Zar: Rasulullah, I received a woman and her husband as my war booty. I made love to the woman while the husband was tied up nearby. I felt kind of guilty having sex with a married woman while her husband watched. . Can you tell me what I did was halal.
 

Prophet: “Yes it was halal/blessed activity which receives many blessings from Allah. Allah says in aya 4.24 that sex with married captured woman and slave girls is halal”.

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     The good Muslim monsters in Africa who enslaved the school-girls are acting lawfully under Sharia and in blessed accord within Islam.  Those news sources who say otherwise are willfully ignorant or LYING.

     See http://www.sex-in-islam.com/ayesha.ahmed/Muhammad-Slave-girl-Juwariyah-Aisha-Adultery.htm

“worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose — and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.”

Last night, my wife and I enjoyed new fellowship at a small group within our local church.  The house and property were nestled into the country roads and hay fields of the flat, green valley.  We sang the worship hymns from my childhood years under the shade trees of a hospitable family.

It occurred to me how many years it had been since I had enjoyed such a scenario.  As we sang, the tears began to flow.  Thankfulness.  I became aware that the Family of God is large enough to meet needs which a natural family cannot.  Or will not.

Archbishop William Temple of Canterbury (d. 1944)

penned these words:

Worship, honest and complete worship, gets all of who you are.  We feel that time is expanding before us as “He who inhabits eternity” is actually “inhabiting our praises” — we are aware of the Presence.

This has been a reality of God-worshipers throughout time and cultures.  It is possible right were you are right now.  Or you could have met Him June 14th under shade trees beside the hay fields of rural Montana.

Ravi Zacharias is one of my favorite speakers on the things of God.

He stated,

“The older you get, the more it takes to fill your heart with wonder, and only God is big enough to fill it. Meaning comes from wonder, truth, love and security. And God, who is the perpetual novelty, who gave us the Son who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, who loved you and gave Himself for you on the Cross and says, ‘Because I live, you shall live also.’ That’s when meaning comes in.”

It occurred to me afresh that you and I have the ability to know God better than Adam ever did in the pristine Garden.  In his innocence, Adam remained ignorant of Grace.  That perfect God reached downward and outward to the down-and-out.  Among the thistled fields, we find the God who is intent to solve our souls.

Though He never changes, He remains the only perpetual novelty.  Worship remains our most noble ambition and destiny.

Pyredooles are coming June 4th.

See pyredoodles.com

amazing

Rebbesoul and Schlomit Levi bring it.

sick to death n back

H1N1 virus is a serious force of Fallen nature.  click title to link to my experience.

I delivered a 35 minute sermon to Canyon Ferry Rd. Baptist Church on August 25th of 2013.

Link to the audio file (mp3)  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxFLoI3ESvfCYWkySmNCeWVDYjQ/edit?usp=sharing

The presentation using GoogleDrive is:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tzr9fSiqu4pOhyHgCvYZ6yBCjJcj_1pbsE75-F8MzBM/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to use this presentation for sharing with your people.

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Below is an earlier presentation to Church leaders explaining how the Church lost her Jewish Roots in the early 4th century when the antisemitic emperor Constantine I removed Jews from Church leadership.  This has resulted in the typical Christian being largely ignorant of his or her Jewish heritage and the future of Judaism in the coming Age (Isaiah 66):

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14uqYGiyfDHKfzPFEJJOv6KX1G8Anb9oYaP6ZOiBE2YM/edit?usp=sharing

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Fuller Seminary continues its protracted fall into worldly concerns.  I am not surprised; my option to quit the MDiv program there in 1992 was the right thing to do.  Fuller is way down the slippery slope and the brakes appear to be totally gone.

It’s difficult to defend a fixed position as your opponent can chip away at you when the time and conditions are advantageous.

The initial plan and blessing of God has always been that one man and one woman enjoy union to populate Creation.  What could be more obvious, if only from a biological aspect?

Despite the necessary verbiage to hold to the old values, Fuller Seminary in Pasadena has sanctioned the organization of a student-led LGBT group on campus to “discuss” the concerns of individuals and groups regarding gender.  These men and women with doctorates are professional communicators, so their ability to finesse words with effective subtlety is as good as it gets.

When their agenda deviates from God’s Will for Creation, their wordsmith craft takes on a diabolical tone.  Linked here is one Fuller professor’s promotion of Fuller’s latest socio-politial move:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tonyjones/2013/07/16/gay-students-at-fuller-seminary/

CBN also offered a careful (if not self-protecting) bit of information at the following link:

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2013/July/Fuller-Seminary-Allows-First-LGBT-Campus-Group/

The comments at both sites are interesting and reveals just how deluded many self-described “Christians” have become.

In Romans 1:18f, Paul makes it clear that when a nation will not worship the God of Creation (Elohim), then that God will act to counter His initial blessing in the Garden by giving them over to a debased mind: the adoption of homosexuality by that culture.

Look, Mom! I’m FREE!!!

Without the blessing of marriage and natural procreation, such a confounded and precipitous nation will become subject to its rivals by default.  LGBT is a moral catastrophe which attrites this generation and the one to come through autodepopulation.

Depopulation:  that’s a good thing, right?

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – Gen 1v28

PopulationControl.org

Enjoy the freedom which God blesses — renounce everything else as Sin.

Blessed be the Name of Yeshua.

The sweetest, godliest, beautiful grandma you could ask for is a friend of mine.  She attends the community’s leading “KJV only” church which has been a bastion of traditional Christian values for our morally-bent city.  Following is a letter I sent to her reg. the concern of KJV only-ism — with a few modifications for the sake of community.

—————-

Hello, Sis:

First, I want to say what a blessing it is to see you at the store from time to time.  Your love for the Lord and desire to see His Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven just gushes out of your soul — that’s a beautiful thing to see and always lifts my spirit.

This email has several blue hyperlinks which you can click and bounce to blueletterbible.org for references.

When I met with your pastor just 2 weeks ago, I was deflated to infer that he was a “KJV only” promoter.  Not just because I disagree with that — who cares what I think.  But because it is such a distraction to what matters.

I grew up in the Church of Christ and went to a private school in Nashville of that denomination.

The church I attended has a similar plaque in the outer wall – est. 33 AD. Pride outside and in

Although they have the basics of the Faith, the CofC tends to ADD heaps of regulations and little rabbit trails that lead people into corners of thought which do not cause them to be about the real business of the Kingdom — so much time and energy is wasted on silly stuff.  The Devil loves to derail the Church.

The KJV only argument is one of those “derailing” issues.

It’s a great translation.  King James 1 was a highly educated man who was a near genius.  The KJV pulled his unstable realm together through masterful political strategy and kept Brits away from the Geneva Bible which was the rival within the Protestant Church, the KJV being superior to the Bishops’ Bible of the 1500’s.

Bishops Bible

One question is, “Can anything good come out of the Anglican Church?”  Yes, the KJV did, but is it “doubly inspired” is the question.

a man of fierce appetites

Henry started the church and broke from Catholicism because his very faithful wife, Catherine of Aragon, was totally infertile and his crown was in serious danger.

Catherine of Aragon

His affair with Anne Boleyn (and at least five other known “wives”) caused him to divorce his Catholic spouse which the Catholics resisted well.

Anne, although rather plain, was a powerful force of nature

So he started the Church of England with himself at the top of it.  Poor James came to power as a baby with his Catholic mom being at the serious disadvantage of being Catholic (Mary of Scots) and abdicating under duress.  He was a Scot who had to follow Elizabeth’s superlative long reign, ending without issue.  James of Scotland united the two realms of England and Scotland, but struggled to gain acceptance in the southern kingdom and truly needed a cause that would bring the two together.

James I

He found it, uniting the Church of England with the Puritans in Scotland with a common cause.  Like Luther in Germany who created/refined/universalized “High German”, James united the language of English.  Brilliant politics.  Being a Scot myself, I am predisposed to admire him greatly, but James earned it.

Is the KJV “doubly inspired”?  Is it inspired the same way that the Greek from Luke’s or the Hebrew from Moses’ pen was inspired?  All we need is ONE instance of inaccuracy to disprove any prophet.  If a respected “prophet” makes a statement as being of the Lord and that statement does not come to pass, then that man is a false prophet and was subject to harsh judgment in the Old Testament, possibly death by stoning.

Somalia

While no one need stone the KJV for having ONE error in translation, it is wise to simply say that the KJV is a very good translation — better than others which have tampered with the text and watered down the gospel in evil ways.

But the KJV is not doubly inspired.  Here is one example:  “God save the king” (1Sam 10:24,    2Sam 16:16,   1Kings 1:25)

The KJV does not ACCURATELY TRANSLATE the original text which says “May the king live”.  Rather, the KJV uses a “dynamic equivalent” that was a phrase of purely British origin.  What could be a more natural British phrase than “God save the queen”?  You hear it all the time, but it’s not Biblical.

That is to say, it is not in the original text.  But that phrase became biblical when the Brits sat down to make a new English version and were not absolutely scrupulous about a word-for-word translation; no, they allowed for some of their natural and national idioms (sayings which were peculiar to their culture) to slip into the “Authorized Version”.  The Hebrew uses two words “live” and “king” — no mention of “God” or “save” — Click on the blue hyperlink above on 1Sam 10:24 and the other instances of “God save the king” and see for yourself. I find this idiom – altogether natural to Brits – to betray a lack of SUPERnatural origin which the “double inspiration” group seeks. To be Inspired, the Word ought not be peculiar in favoring one culture over another – unless it be the Jewish culture.

Ma’am, the problem that you are going to struggle with now has nothing to do with the KJV only issue.  Now, you are struggling with the doubt you have in your mind over whether you can trust your pastor or not.  It is the same issue that we all have in that we WANT to find that man of God whom we can believe in all things — a degree of “hero worship”.

Maximal hero worship, Minimal rational thought

Taken to the extreme, it is what the Catholics have done with the Pope.  By giving FULL faith and confidence in one person, we can turn off our critical thinking and soak up the “truth”.  We like that certainty.  Until we find a serious disappointment.  Then people leave the Church in disgust, don’t they?  But all along, they never should have trusted in that human to begin with — to have turned off their critical thinking skills in the first place.  Right?  Rather, let us take the good which is there and allow for human error with Grace — the same Grace which we require for ourselves — loving even the best Fallen pastor in the whole World while always being careful to honor that man with a degree of caution.  We are not papists; we need no human to do the work of Messiah today for us.

The “father” does not hold an office of “priesthood” by which he performs the daily miracle of transubstantiating bread into Flesh.  Nor do we yield our minds to any man without reservation.  This is honoring to God.

I have suffered this pain several times in life.  I loved Adrian Rogers and know that he is Home with the Lord as a champion of the Faith.  I watch him preach on cable TV to this day.  However, I have several letters from him which are bittersweet because he refused to reverse himself on a small error of interpretation which was demonstrably incorrect.  This is almost 20 years ago.  It was some encouragement to me that he stopped saying it from the pulpit (that “agape” is the same as “divine love” which it is not), but his pride would not permit him to agree with me in candor.  Ah, the loss to me was painful.  It happens.  We are all Fallen — until the Day when redemptive Glory shines on us and we are like Him!  But I wanted for him to be Perfect, fool that I am.  My greatest loss in “hero worship” has been regarding the fall of our nation.  I was raise to be so patriotic that it was almost, yes, a form of idolatry.  This year, with DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) being found to be unconstitutional, I see the July 4th celebration of Independence to be the celebration of independence from God and basic, biological decency.  Fallen.  “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”  (Rev. 18)

I mentioned that I cannot bear the fact the the KJV contains the word “Easter” in Acts.

The correct word in “Pesach” which we call “Passover”.  The use of “Easter” betrays an antisemitism in the translators which I find to be almost beyond forgiveness.  It is devilish to separate the Church from its roots in Jewish culture, something which VERY few pastors realize today.

I have carefully treated this issue in a presentation which I shared with Pastor two weeks ago.  That is attached to an email which will follow shortly regarding the Rapture and precedent signs in the heavens.

Here is a link to a website which refutes the KJV only dogma well.  I am sorry that the author is not very gentle in his angst to be correct and refute error — such is the temperament of most “doctrinal” types.

Finally, I may put the content of this email on my blog, devoid of any names.  I put pictures with those articles to make it fun to read.

By the way, when I met with Pastor, I shared Genesis 12:3 with him as my most serious cause for concern regarding the KJV.  The KJV error there is GLARING and reveals a smoldering contempt for the Jewish people — they will soon be upheld by God as the most favored Chosen people among many brethren.  What a paradox!  I treated that concern in my blog at this link.  It may be that he will reconsider his opinion on this matter.

Grace cures all our Fallenness.  Righteousness points out the error.  Justice condemns the error.  Grace resolves the error — even to God’s satisfaction — and makes the way for us to be at Peace with the God who is thrice Holy.  Blessed be the Name of our Substitute — Jesus the Scapegoat (Lev. 16) who took our Sin into the Wilderness of God’s forgetfulness and left it there, forever!

As Jude said, “He is able to . . . present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy”.   (Jude 24f)

It may be that, out of loyalty to your pastor, you never want to hear from me again.  That would be almost expected; it’s difficult.  Pastor is a godly man who does deserve to be honored for having taken a strong stand in our community for the Word and for right living and for traditional values.  May God richly bless him and entrust Pastor with a glorious reward in the Kingdom which will be here soon!  May Grace be shown to us all — one to another — even as the Lord has been the author of Grace and will bring us all together in one accord.  I am sorry that none of us are without error — especially sorry about me.  That noted, let us do our best, inspired and empowered through the Holy Spirit.

There are SO MANY issues worth dividing over: the Virgin birth, the toleration of known unrepentant Sin in the local church, the Resurrection, etc., etc. Let us be very slow to vivesect the Body of Christ like Frankenstein’s monster unless the matter be of the first degree. Pride will be found as a motivating force otherwise. Pride for “doing good” is the most diabolical and insidious form of Pride. It is in me, I know. Hasten the Day all such vanity be totally damned out of us all who Believe through the Purification which is to come.

Blessings to You, Dear Lady of God,

Jim

The following post is a letter which I shared with a friend about baptism via immersion.

—————

Dear Sis:

I always appreciate our interactions at the store and I apologize for not being able to really answer your thoughts about membership at church with regard to immersion. Because you are honestly working through this issue and asking the right questions, I’ve spent a few hours before work to lay out the issue of baptism based upon thirty years of my relatively ardent studies.  I find that most people today are not willing to spend their time and energy to do much of anything really well.  That may be permissible when flossing one’s teeth, but I find it to be simply horrible when doing ministry and speaking about the things of God. Thus, I have attempted to answer your concerns as best I can in honor of the Lord and in honor of you, a daughter of the King.

I hope that you will have time for these considerations and follow up with me when you can.

Why Be Baptized?     (an overview)

If your answer is, “Because the Bible tells me to!” — that’s good enough.  But there are differing opinions about HOW to baptize and WHY to baptize.  In Romans 10, Paul makes it clear that being zealous for obedience without understanding has caused problems for God’s people in the past.  It’s good to be zealous and obedient, but “according to knowledge”.

Baptism is something that a Christian does as an act of obedience AFTER having come to faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.  There is no “baptismal regeneration”.  You can think of it as “putting on the uniform” of the Kingdom of God.

We were all born natural subjects of the World which is in rebellion to the Kingdom — through water baptism, you inform the Devil that you are no longer one of his citizens, but have expatriated your citizenship from the doomed World-system to the Kingdom of God.

By submitting to immersion, you are showing that you agree that Noah’s Flood was a good thing and that parts of who you are also need to be dealt with very severely.  This is your response to God as having a good conscience before Him.  His response to your baptism is to start inspiring you to a life of increasing maturity which is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

A person who refuses to be properly baptized cannot expect God to inspire them and empower them with supernatural wisdom and ability through the challenges and opportunities in life.

Salvation (Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification)

In order to be baptized in water, a person must first be born again in their human spirit.  This problem we have goes back to Adam in the Garden of Eden.

When Adam rebelled against God, be died in his human spirit (zoe).  Adam unplugged his spirit from the Throne room of God when he chose to reject God’s reign from that Throne.

He lost his innocence and he lost his immortality as a human being.  Adam became “free” — untethered to Life.

Having committed spiritual suicide, Adam progressively died in his soul (psyche).

Leaving innocence, Adam progressively learned pride, wrath, violence, foul speech, etc. until he ultimately died physically.  Messiah reverses this process for those who Trust in Him.

At Justification, the new saint is instantaneously plugged back into the Throne room.  In God’s courtroom, the person is declared to be forensically righteous by God the Father and legally adopted into the Family.  Then the saint moves into the “living room” as it were and begins the process of Sanctification: living as one set apart to mature into the righteousness of Christ while retaining those personal qualities which make you unique.  Maturing, your laughter becomes increasingly righteous as you enjoy those things which give the Lord pleasure.  Your weeping becomes increasingly righteous as you no longer lament the loss of those things you cannot keep and your heart increasingly breaks for those things which cause God pain.  This is the perfected righteousness of one’s soul.  Finally, we look forward to the imminent moment when the Lord will call us Upward and we are to be instantaneously Glorified with a better immortality than Adam ever knew in the Garden.

Connection to the Past (and Future)

Baptism is an act of your will which makes it clear to everyone that you are a member of the Body of Christ.  A lot of things have changed about how we “do Church” in the last 2000 years.  The Apostle Paul would see a lot of things that were very strange to him: electric lights and electric guitars, etc.  But he would recognize baptism.  Baptism is an ancient practice that spans the centuries and ties us together as one Body in the Lord.

Baptism did not start with the NT Church; it is an OT practice going way back to the times of Moses.  And baptism will continue as long as the Earth continues to spin around the Sun — uniting all the people who call on the name of the Lord from different times and languages and nations and customs.

The Baptism of Jewish Proselytes

Most Jews are born of Jewish parents, but that is not always the case.  When non-Jewish adults (Gentiles) convert to Judaism, they are called proselytes.

All orthodox Jews today must do the following:

1) profess faith in the one God, Jehovah (YHWH),

2) males must be circumcised,

3) attempt to follow the 613 rules in the OT,

4) keep a kosher lifestyle.

When the Temple was extant, Jews would also

5) give an offering (one was provided by the parents).

But a Gentile convert to Judaism must undergo one additional step and be baptized (make mikvah).  This is thought to purify the proselyte from the uncleanliness of life prior to becoming Jewish.  {There were MANY baptismal pools around Herod’s Temple which made it easy for the 3000 to be baptized at Pentecost/Shavuot — reversing the deaths of the 3000 slain when the Law came from Sinai at the first Shavuot in Ex. 19.}

Once a Gentile satisfies these steps, he or she is considered to have all the rights and responsibilities of any and all Jewish people.

This information is freely available in eBook format at this link with the term “bapti*” highlighted in yellow.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edersheim/lifetimes.xi.xii.html?highlight=bapti#highlight

The author is Alfred Edersheim, the Messianic Jewish genius who wrote many volumes in the late 1800’s to help Gentile Christians understand our roots in Judaism.

Given over a century of critical consideration, his scholarship has been found to be unassailable and thoroughly trustworthy.  His four primary volumes are available at this link:       http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edersheim?show=worksBy

As pertains to Jewish baptism, here is a quote from Edersheim’s Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix 12 linked above:

            “The baptism was to be performed in the presence of three witnesses, ordinarily Sanhedrists (Yebam. 47 b), but in case of necessity others might act. The person to be baptized, having cut his hair and nails, undressed completely, made fresh profession of his faith before what were ‘the fathers of the baptism’ (our Godfathers, Kethub. 11 a; Erub. 15 a), and then immersed completely, so that every part of the body was touched by the water. The rite would, of course, be accompanied by exhortations and benedictions (Maimonides, Hilkh. Milah iii. 4; Hilkh. Iss. Biah xiv. 6). Baptism was not to be administered at night, nor on a Sabbath or feast-day (Yebam. 46 b). Women were attended by those of their own sex, the Rabbis standing at the door outside.”

One note, the idea of “proselytes” is not a Biblical concept, but came about for the preservation of unity within the community of Jews about a century before the life of Yeshua (Jesus).  Scripture does not explain or require that a gentile who wants to align his or herself with Israel need to go through the above protocol for conversion, bu the real concern was that converts to Judaism might not keep kosher and would easily profane the Sabbath and contaminate the community of observant Jews.

The Baptism of John

John’s baptism was “unto repentance” and was often found to be very objectionable by the proper Jews of his day.  John was the most pious man who had ever lived — the last of the OT prophets who had all the angst of the centuries crystalized in his soul.  He saw that Israel was about to receive her Messiah — and that Israel was not prepared.

He was calling upon all Jews to purify themselves so that they might receive Him properly, just as all formerly non-kosher gentiles must be purified from their past lives outside the community.  Naturally born Jews were often indignant that anyone should suggest that they should require this very same baptism.  John rebuffed all those self-righteous Jews who came for this baptism without evidence of contrition.

Agreement with God regarding the World    { “baptism now saves you”  1 Peter 3:21 NASB }

Peter explains that baptism is a way of agreeing with God that Noah’s Flood was a good thing.  This passage of Scripture is the most misunderstood and neglected aspect of baptism today, but is essential to understanding immersion.  It takes faith for a human to agree with God that the destruction of the World by the Flood was a good thing — it’s scary.

It is a process for us to turn over our affections and thoughts to the Lord, but Faith knows that everything the Lord does is Good.  Along these lines, we agree that the Crucifixion was both the worst thing that ever happened and the best thing that ever happened.  From our perspective, some of those things that God does may not seem to be that good, but after years with the Lord we begin to learn from experience that He knows what He is doing.  The destruction of the World by water in the days of Noah was one of those Good things the Lord has done that most people thought was terrible.

            “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”    —  1 Peter 3:18ff ESV

Unpacking all of this passage would take a few hours since the matter of Fallen angels breeding giants is clearly in view here — wild stuff.  For the matter at hand, baptism is said to correspond to the “salvation” which Noah received from the World-system (cosmos) when that system was destroyed.  Noah had been found to be “righteous”, but he was born as a citizen of a World which was under judgment.

Peter, a Jew, is clarifying two things:  1) that Christian baptism goes back to Genesis and 2) that it is not like the cleansing baptism of proselytes/John the Baptist.  Peter is saying that — having been Redeemed by the Blood — it would be unconscionable to remain as a citizen of this doomed World which the Enemy of God calls “home”.  (See 1John5 “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”) Thus, baptism becomes the saint’s best opportunity to publicly reject the World and the Devil while proving a switched allegiance to the Kingdom.

Through immersion, the saint has passed judgment against the World in alignment with the opinion of the Lord.  The next and final judgment against the World will be its destruction by fire — nuclear fire.  No longer will the Lord stretch out the dimensions of space which allow for the existence of the universe.  We currently exist as a transient bubble of smoky physicality surrounded by the spirit realm which is bearing down on our intrusion with unthinkable pressure.  When the lessons of history are learned, the Lord will cease to expend the energy required to give room for this universe and it will be will be “rolled up like a scroll” with all the mass of physicality being converted to raw energy per Einstein’s E=mcc

.

Knowing and agreeing with God’s plan for the World, the saint MUST get unattached to this World.  Like the pilot who ejects from a broken airplane which is surely going to crash and explode, baptism is how the saint “ejects” from this doomed World-system.

The forces of evil had been working through the generations to derail the coming of Messiah (e.g. murder of Abel) and had more recently inspired Herod to murder the toddlers of Bethlehem.  Yet, it was only after Messiah was baptized in water that Satan himself opposed Messiah face to face.  To Satan, submitting to water baptism is an act of defiance — an act of war.  Nowhere does Scripture imply that Satan can read your thoughts and know when you have been Redeemed, but when you come out of the drowning waters he knows that you have aligned yourself with the God of Heaven as a member of that Kingdom.  Therefore, it is to be expected that a newly baptized Christian will undergo a period of new attention and opposition by the Enemy.  It was only AFTER baptism in Matthew 3 that Jesus was tempted by the Devil in Matthew 4.  Your decision is a spiritual battle.  Expect similar treatment and follow the admonition of James in 4:7 — “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  It was for this very reason that the Sinless Messiah submitted to water baptism by John since declaring war on Satan was part of how Messiah came to “fulfill all righteousness.”  (Mat. 3)    Sprinkling just cannot recapitulate anything like the Flood.

Holy Spirit’s Response

When you turned to the Lord for the forgiveness of your sins (Justification), something was done for you by God that you could not see or feel or hear.  In the spiritual realm around us, God plugged your human spirit back into God’s throne room.  You were also adopted as a child of God the Father.  (Jesus is the only person who is a “naturally-born” Son of God — not adopted)  As an adopted daughter, all the rights and responsibilities of that relationship become yours.  You move from the courtroom into the family room as a new child of the King.  As a child, we need a tutor.  Just as Alexander the Great had Aristotle as his tutor, we have the Holy Spirit.  His role is to inspire us to maturity and empower us to be conformed to righteousness.

This process of maturation as adopted heirs is laid out in Romans 8 — Paul begins with the “baby” concern of wondering “am I still in trouble with God?” when he assures you that “there is now no condemnation”; and Paul ends with you being “more than a conqueror” — mature and dangerous.

At danger of being too metaphysical, it is important to recall that the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep — BEFORE the Creation story even began.

[Gen 1:1-5 ESV] 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

So we see that Water was a reality before anything was made.  Water is THE primordial element which existed before Creation.  And the Spirit of G-d “hovered” over the face of the waters.  That word for “hover”  is very rare in Scripture, used just three times (click here) and it is meant to convey the idea of moving back and forth in a manner which is soft rather than forceful.  Also, the root contains the idea of “cherishing” or “being affected through the emotion of a pure love”.

When a person submits to this immersion into water, even though an aspect of the sinful nature is still evident, you are showing G-d that you want to go back, as it were, to that most ancient time when the Spirit was moving on the face of the waters.  You are placing yourself in a position to enjoy that interaction as if you had never done anything wrong, but had lived a long life of perfect obedience to the Lord.  In your human spirit, this has been made a reality by the merit of the Just One on your behalf.  And the Spirit is willing to interact with you in a manner which is not forceful – it will be incumbent upon you to yield to the Spirit’s wooing to your spirit and for you to obey.  And to enjoy the soft strength that comes to empower your obedience

Sharing in the Lord’s Experiences

When a Believer is baptized in water, he or she is acting out the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is a symbolic act of drowning, being buried (at sea), and coming back out of the water anew.

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.   — Rom 6:3-7 ESV

Again, the goal is to enjoy the provision of God which enables us to “walk in newness of life” as citizens of the Kingdom unfettered by a foolish regard for this doomed World.  Baptism heralds a change in how we do life because of a reconsideration of all things according to God’s opinion and God’s empowerment.

Personal Application of this Information

As you mentioned having been sprinkled in the Methodist tradition, I must say that their method is detached from our Jewish roots and, thus, defunct.  Ancient Christians would not be able to see the sprinkling method of baptism as something recognizable through the centuries, but as an unwholesome error which tears a Believer away from his and her connection to antiquity — even the first book of the Bible as well as all of the lives of all of those Believers who were hoping for the Messiah to come.

As your friend and brother in the Lord, I implore you to submit to immersion as an act of obedience to the King.  I would never ask you to be a submissive person, but it is a beautiful thing to witness a mature and strong person, such as you are, be submitted to the only One who deserves it.  The saints rejoice, the angels sing, and the Devil says, “There goes another one off my census.”

Caveat:  Knowing these things, if you stubbornly refuse to submit yourself to God according to His clear directives, quit dabbling in the Kingdom.  Considering that Messiah was shattered by the Wrath of God on the Cross so that you may enjoy the elation of blamelessness before God forever, recalcitrance at the first test here would indicate a lack of revelation of all the Lord has done for us sinners.  Considering that gentiles through the ages would submit even to circumcision to join the Chosen People, this reveals a contemptuous reluctance to the altogether benign act of immersion.  Make your choice and pursue it as one who is either hot or cold. (Rev 3)  I hope that you choose obedience and I pray that pride for today will not bar you from coming exaltation at the King’s table.

May the Lord of Glory Bless You in All Good Things as You Yield to the Holy Spirit,

Fraternally Yours,

Jim

I sent the following letter to some 400 Messianic groups (Jewish Christians) in the US on May 3rd.

—————

3 May 2013

Shabbat Shalom,

Please be so kind as to receive this timely message from a gentile who loves the L_rd, the People He has Chosen, and the Nation He has regathered from the four corners of the Earth.  The hope of Hosea is being realized in our sight, and may all the nations applaud the work which the L_rd has done in restoring Israel to prominence.

I hope to not waste your time, so allow me to get right to the matter at hand.

In keeping with Genesis 1:14, there will be a series of signs in the heavens (‘owth) over the next several years on significant set times (moed):

Pesach 5774	Passover 2014	total lunar eclipse (blood moon)
Erev Sukkot 5775	Tabernacles 2014	total lunar eclipse (blood moon)
Pesach 5775	Passover 2015	total lunar eclipse (blood moon)
Sukkot 5776	Tabernacles 2015	total lunar eclipse (blood moon)
1 Nisan 5775	New Year 2015	solar eclipse
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5776	Trumpets 2015	solar eclipse
Chanukah 5774	28 Nov. 2013	very bright comet      NASA link
Tu BiSh’vat 5774	16 Jan. 2014	subsequent meteorite storm

Each of these events can be verified through the NASA website at:

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html  and (more specifically)

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEdecade/LEdecade2011.html

What is more astounding is that the upcoming “Jewish tetrad” which begins on Pesach 5774 will be the ninth Jewish tetrad in the known history of the planet — the first of which occurred on 3 April 33 CE, the day when Messiah was cut off per Daniel 9.  Each of the former eight Jewish tetradia occurred at a time in world history that was auspicious to the People of G_d, including: The Six Day War, Israeli National Independence, The Spanish Inquisition, the Crucifixion, etc.

More information is entailed at the website addressed as   http://redmoonrapture.com/

The prophet Joel foretold the following:

“The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the L_RD comes.”         — Joel 2:31 ESV

Joel’s words are a perennial warning, as found in Luke 21,   Acts 2, and   Revelation 6.  Thus, it is understood that these words are not to be without effect on those who ruminate upon them in Faith.

As a Christian man intent to honor the G_d of Scripture, I understand that the good news of Messiah’s return to Jerusalem as the King of kings must first go the Chosen People in accordance with the great apostle’s word in Romans 1.  And it will be the Jewish people who understand the significance of these signs as the dates of these Jewish holidays are, so sadly, inconsequential to the vast majority of Believing gentiles.  My primary ministry is to spread this message; the presentation at the following link will be my poor attempt to inform gentile Church leaders regarding these things:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14uqYGiyfDHKfzPFEJJOv6KX1G8Anb9oYaP6ZOiBE2YM/edit?usp=sharing   (click the “Present” button in the upper right hand corner if necessary)

My hope and prayer is that the Messianic church will understand the significance of these imminent events and lead the nations in both understanding and righteousness.  Specifically, I hope that you as a leader of the Messianic Church will be like the noble Jews of Berea who initially received the word with a positive inclination of the mind and then determined the veracity of what they had learned — AND ALSO to be like the men of Issachar who understood the times regarding the kingdom’s transition: the reign of Saul is passing to David.  Whereas we gentiles have historically failed to bless the Jews in all good things, may the Jews reverse the past tragedies by blessing all nations with good news of the coming Messiah ben David.  May the Chosen People of G_d end this moribund Age with unparalleled magnificence!

Any advice or direction you might be willing to offer our small group of ministers will be very gladly received.  Help translating this message into the Hebrew language will be most greatly appreciated.

May the King of the Universe Bless You and Yours Richly.

Your Servant,

V.P. Public Relations

Jim@RedMoonRapture.com

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